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LIBRARY 


GIVEN  BY 


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GOD    AND    MYSELF 


AN  INQUIRY  INTO  THE 
TRUE   RELIGION 


BY 


MARTIN  J.  SCOTT,  S.J. 


■  IBJ.  KENEDY&SONS) 


Sixty-seventh  thousand 


NEW  YORK 

P.  J.   KENEDY  &  SONS 

1919 


r-ii-  :i>( 


Smptimt  potest : 

Antonitjs  Maas,  S.J. 
Proepositus  Prov.  Marylandice  Neo-Eboracensis 


/Rt&il£)b0tat: 


ARTHUBU3    T.    SCANLAN,    S.T.D. 

Censor  Librorum 


Imptmututx 


>i^  Joannes  Cardinalis  Farley 
Archiepiscopus  Neo-Eboracensis 


Neo-Ebor\ci 

die  14  Septembris,  1917 


COPYRIGHT,  191  7,  BY 
P.  J.  KENEDY  &  SONS 


PREFACE 


""^HIS  is  a  little  book  for  those  seek- 
ing a  right  understanding  of  the 
true  religion.  It  is  written  in  a 
simple  and,  it  is  hoped,  friendly  manner.  It 
is  an  attempt  to  look  at  things  in  the  ordi- 
nary common-sense  way.  The  religion  of  God 
is  for  all  people.  It  should  appeal  to  the  simple 
as  well  as  to  the  learned.  In  these  days, 
'even  learned  people  are  too  busy  to  read  long 
or  learned  treatises.  This  is  short.  It  is 
not  written  in  a  theological  way,  but  as  a 
plain  statement,  which  it  is  hoped  will  carry 
conviction.  It  takes  nothing  for  granted.  It 
begins  with  the  beginning.  Although  it  deals 
with  the  sublimest  matters  that  can  affect 
mankind,  there  is  an  endeavor  to  use  the  sim- 
plest language.  I  have  tried  to  get  away  from 
a  bookish  way  of  talking  and  to  deal  with  the 
matter  as  men  in  the  street  deal  with  the 
problems  that  confront  them. 

iii 


iv  PREFACE 

For  close  on  to  twenty  years  I  have  been  in 
touch  with  men  and  women  who  were  agitated 
by  the  things  here  presented.  To  every  think- 
ing person,  these  subjects  must  from  time  to 
time  rise  up  and  claim  attention.  The  world 
is  now  deeply  stirred.  The  best  established 
things  are  being  tested.  The  past  few  years 
have  seen  many  isms  collapse.  Religion  it- 
self has  been  challenged.  This  little  treatise 
is  a  reply.  It  will  also  help  those  already  in- 
structed to  meet  the  difficulties  of  the  day 
better.  Moreover,  it  will  be  of  especial  bene- 
fit to  those  who  are  engaged  in  giving  instruc- 
tion to  seekers  after  the  truth.  By  reading 
this  book  through  carefully,  an  inquirer  will 
be  informed  on  all  the  main  points  of  the  true 
religion.  As  a  handbook  for  inquirers,  it 
aims  at  seeing  things  from  their  standpoint. 
In  this  way,  it  is  hoped  that  they  in  turn  will 
be  led  to  see  the  true  religion  as  it  is.  For  to 
see  it  as  it  is  will  surely  lead  to  its  acceptance. 
Misrepresentation  and  misunderstanding  are 
the  two  great  sources  of  error.  To  remove 
these  and  in  so  doing  to  set  forth  the  splendor 
of  truth  is  the  purpose  of  these  pages. 


INTRODUCTION 


"^HE  condition  of  the  world  to-day 
makes  men  serious-minded.  The 
greater  part  of  mankind  is  suffering, 
making  enormous  sacrifices,  some  of  hfe  and 
hmb,  others  of  relatives,  friends,  comfort,  and 
even  the  necessaries  of  life.  People  naturally 
reflect  on  the  purpose  of  life  when  they  see  it 
spent  thus.  The  pagan  motto  "eat,  drink, 
and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  we  die,"  may  be 
very  well  when  we  have  youth  and  pleasure 
and  prosperity,  but  in  times  of  sacrifice  it 
finds  no  echo  in  the  heart. 

Individuals  as  well  as  nations  have  their 
periods  of  sacrifice.  Indeed,  looking  at  life 
broadly,  is  not  every  life  a  sacrifice.'^  If  one 
dies  in  youth,  what  a  sacrifice  of  hopes  and 
ambitions!  If  one  lives  on  to  old  age,  it  is 
only  to  await  some  disease  or  accident  as  an 
exit  from  the  stage  of  life.  And  the  years 
between,  what  a  conflict  they  record!     Truly, 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

as  Scripture  tells  us,  man's  life  on  earth  is  a 
warfare.  But  war  has  a  purpose,  a  goal. 
And  what  is  that  purpose,  that  goal? 

Down  the  ages  philosophers  and  sages  have 
essayed  to  reply,  but  the  only  reply  that 
answers  the  whole  call  of  life  is  that  given  by 
Jesus  Christ.  Christ  changed  the  face  of  the 
earth.  The  kingdom  He  founded  is  now  spread 
over  the  entire  world,  and,  after  a  duration 
of  two  thousand  years,  it  is  the  most  vigorous 
in  the  world  to-day.  It  has  passed  through 
worse  crises  than  we  behold  at  present,  and 
after  each  it  has  stood  erect,  stronger  than 
before.  Let  us  go  to  Christ,  therefore,  and 
see  what  solution  He  gives  to  the  problem  of 
life. 

In  his  treatise  "God  and  Myself"  (An 
Inquiry  into  the  True  Religion),  Father  Scott 
presents  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
ordinary  reader  in  a  brief,  clear,  and  most 
convincing  manner.  Realizing  that  misunder- 
standing is  mainly  accountable  for  the  sad 
religious  condition  of  the  times,  the  author  has 
set  himself  to  remove  it.  This  he  does  by  a 
most  lucid  statement  of  the  chief  points  of  the 
Christian  religion.     In  the  course  of  the  work 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

the  great  problems  of  life  which  at  times  con- 
front every  individual  are  clearly  stated  and 
as  clearly  solved.  In  a  word,  this  treatise 
enables  the  average  person  to  give  a  reason 
for  the  faith  that  is  in  him,  and  puts  his  re- 
ligious belief  on  a  foundation  which  nothing 
can  shake.  Indeed  as  a  book  to  inform  Catho- 
lics thoroughly,  and  also  to  give  to  non-Catho- 
lics a  right  view  of  the  Church,  I  commend  it 

most  highly. 

I  trust  that  this  volume  will  go  forth  as  a 
missioner,  and  bring  firm  faith  and  true  com- 
fort to  countless  souls.  Jesus  Christ  has  said: 
"I  am  the  Light  of  the  world;"  Father  Scott's 
book  should  point  the  way  for  many  to  that 
Light,  which  leads  infallibly  those  who  follow 
it.  "He  that  followeth  INIe  walketh  not  in 
darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life."  Now, 
more  than  ever,  we  need  that  light. 

*i>  James  Card.  Gibbons. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
An  Inquiry  into  the  True  Religion 

CHAFTEB  PAGE 

I.     World  Calamities  and  Providence  3 
II.     All    Thinkers    Concerned    about 

Religion 11 

in.     Men  of  Great  Intelligence  Differ   .  13 
rV.     The  World  Manifests  a  Creator 

and  Ruler 15 

V.     The  Spirituality  of  the  Soul   ...  19 

VI.     The  Immortality  of  the  Soul     .    .  24 

VII.     The  Creator  and  Mankind    ...  30 

Vin.     Jesus  Christ 38 

IX.    One  True  Religion 47 

X.     The  True  Religion 52 

XI.     How  so  Many  Are  in  Error  ...  67 

XII.     How  so  Many  Are  Indifferent   .    .  77 

Xin.     Rationahsm  and  Materialism    .    .  80 
XIV.     Accusations     against     the     True 

Church 90 

XV.     Attitude  of  the  True  Believer     .    .  104 

ix 


X  ■  CONTENTS 

PART  n 

The  Principal  Teaching  of  the 
Catholic  Church 

CHAFTEB  PAQB 

I.     Why  there  Are  Mysteries  in  Re- 
ligion        113 

II.     The  Trinity 118 

III.  The  Incarnation 122 

IV.  The  Redemption 127 

V.     The  Mother  of  God 131 

VI.     The  Head  of  the  Church   ....  134 

Vn.     The  Bible 142 

VIII.      Hell       148 

IX.     The  Sacraments 152 

X.     The  Eucharist      156 

XI.     The  Mass 162 

XII.     Confession 166 

Xni.     Marriage 171 

XIV.     Prayer 177 

Bibliography 182 


PART  ONE 


My  life  is  hut  a  weaving 

Between  my  God  and  me; 
I  may  hut  choose  the  colors  — 

He  worketh  steadily. 
Full  oft  He  weaveth  sorrow. 

And  I,  in  foolish  pride. 
Forget  He  sees  the  upper 

And  I  the  under  side. 

—  Fatheb  Tabs 


God  and  Myself 

An  Inquiry  Into  the  True  Religion 

CHAPTER  I 

WORLD   CALAMITIES   AND   PROVIDENCE 

T  certain  periods  of  the  world's  his- 
tory men  are  incHned  to  ask  them- 
selves "Is  there  any  Power  on  high 
that  cares  for  human  welfare?"  Earthquakes, 
famines,  wars,  how  they  work  havoc  with  man- 
kind! If  there  is  a  Ruler  of  the  world,  why 
does  He  allow  the  dreadful  occurrences  which 
at  times  plunge  individuals  and  whole  peoples 
into  misery!  Presuming  that  there  is  an  all- 
powerful  Ruler  of  the  world,  how  can  He  be 
just  and  wise  in  view  of  what  we  see  about 
us?  This  reflection  comes  to  every  man  in 
moments  of  affliction,  especially  if  he  is  the 

victim  of  injustice. 

s 


4  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Religion  has  been  driven  out  of  the  heart 
of  many  a  man  because  of  injustice  and  suffer- 
ing. Injustice  there  is  in  the  world  and  suf- 
fering and  distress.  How  is  it  all  compatible 
with  government  from  on  high?  These  are 
all  fair  questions  which  any  man,  no  matter 
how  good  he  be,  may  ask. 

In  our  Revolutionary  War  Washington  held 
his  troops  at  Valley  Forge  during  a  very  severe 
winter,  although  it  caused  them  the  most  ex- 
treme suffering.  Half-clad,  half-starved,  he 
nevertheless  obliged  them  to  continue  on. 
Was  Washington  unmindful  of  his  men?  "V\Tio 
would  entertain  the  thought? 

In  our  Civil  War  there  was  a  stubborn  and 
bloody  fight  known  as  "The  Battle  of  the 
Wilderness."  General  Grant,  the  Commander 
of  the  forces  of  the  North,  sent  regiment  after 
regiment  against  the  death-dealing  defences 
of  the  enemy.  The  slaughter  was  so  dread- 
ful that  it  was  called  a  shambles.  But  Grant 
kept  it  up,  day  after  day.  Was  General  Grant 
a  cruel  man?     On  the  contrary,  he  was  so  con- 


WORLD  CALAIVIITIES  5 

siderate  and  kind-hearted  that  he  refused  to 
take  the  sword  of  Lee  on  the  latter's  surrender, 
and,  moreover,  the  first  thing  he  did  after 
victory  was  to  send  rations  to  the  hungry 
soldiers  who  had  been  fighting  against  him. 

Now  of  course  you  will  say  that  there  is  no 
comparison,  that  the  Ruler  of  the  world  is 
supposed  to  be  all-powerful,  while  these  men 
had  to  do  the  best  they  could  under  great 
limitations.  Granted;  but  at  least  you  will 
admit,  that  under  certain  circumstances  a  kind 
person  may  cause  suffering. 

Now  the  point  is  this,  are  there  any  cir- 
cumstances which  will  justify  a  wise  and  kind 
Ruler  of  the  world  to  allow  such  sufferings  as 
we  see  in  the  world?  I  say  that  there  must  be, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  He  allows  them. 
Hold  now,  do  not  say  I  am  begging  the  ques- 
tion. I  am  going  to  assert  nothing  without 
demonstration.  I  say,  then,  that  because  the 
Ruler  of  the  world  allows  certain  shocking 
things  there  are  circumstances  which  justify  it. 

If  a  Hottentot  who   never  heard   anything 


6  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

about  dentistry  were  to  see  an  American 
mother  holding  her  struggling  child  while  a 
man  with  a  wrench  was  pulling  its  tooth, 
would  he  not  say:  "What  a  cruel  mother!" 
Of  course  after  explaining  the  circumstances 
and  showing  him  the  beneficial  purpose  of  the 
performance  he  would  change  his  mind.  Is 
it  not  wise  to  suppose  that  when  we  see  things 
as  the  Ruler  of  the  world  does  we  should  change 
our  minds  too?  A  Hottentot  is  much  better 
qualified  to  understand  the  wisest  man  in  the 
world  than  the  wisest  of  mankind  is  to  com- 
prehend the  Ruler  of  the  universe. 

Some  years  ago  the  steamer  General  Slocum 
caught  fire  in  the  East  River,  New  York.  It 
was  a  Sunday-School  excursion  on  its  way  to 
the  Sound.  Some  women,  to  save  their  chil- 
dren from  the  flames,  threw  them  overboard. 
Suppose  you  saw  only  the  mother  and  child 
and  did  not  know  the  ship  was  afire,  you  would 
say  she  was  crazy  or  cruel.  We  see  but  a  tiny 
bit  of  the  world-ship.  Our  whole  earth  is  but 
a  microscopic  speck  compared  to  the  universe. 


WORLD  CALAMITIES  7 

But,  you  will  say,  at  least  we  have  ideas  of 
justice,  no  matter  how  minute  the  matter  may 
be,  and  so  we  are  qualified  to  pass  judgment. 
Not  until  you  know  how  that  minute  particle 
stands  in  relation  to  the  rest. 

Suppose  you  saw  the  wife  and  children  of 
a  condemned  man  crying  and  begging  the 
Governor  for  his  pardon,  and  he  refused  their 
supplication,  although  he  had  it  in  his  power 
to  grant  the  pardon,  would  you  call  him  hard- 
hearted? Not  until  you  knew  the  circum- 
stances. He  had  to  consider  not  only  the  wife 
and  mother  and  those  children,  but  the  lives 
of  millions  in  the  state  he  was  ruling.  Very 
true,  you  may  rejoin,  but  the  Ruler  of  the 
world  is  presumed  to  be  all-wise  as  well  as  all- 
powerful,  and  if  He  is  kind  and  good  and  just, 
He  should  be  able  to  devise  ways  and  means 
for  our  welfare  which  would  save  us  from  the 
suffering  and  misery  which  abound.  To  this, 
I  say,  it  is  only  right  to  suppose  that  the  power 
and  wisdom  which  created  the  universe  knows 
how  to  run  it. 


8  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Wlien  we  were  children,  how  we  liked  to  play 
and  how  we  hated  everything  that  interfered 
with  our  pleasures!  We  found  our  school 
tasks  disagreeable  and  often  tried  to  shirk 
them.  Suppose  we  had  asked  our  parents  to 
let  us  play  instead  of  making  us  learn  to  read 
and  write  and  figure;  should  we  not  curse 
them  in  our  maturity  if  they  had  done  as  we 
desired?  They  looked  ahead  and  realized  that 
to  face  life  without  education  was  too  big  a 
price  to  pay  for  passing  enjoyment. 

In  comparison  with  the  Ruler  of  the  world 
the  wisest  of  mankind  is  less  than  a  little  child 
in  the  arms  of  its  mother.  It  is  our  part  to  do 
our  duty,  and  to  trust  the  Creator  to  do  His. 
All  our  sense  of  kindness,  mercy,  and  justice 
comes  from  our  Maker.  The  rays  from  the  sun 
give  light  and  heat,  but  they  are  not  brighter 
or  warmer  than  the  sun  itself.  But,  you  may 
object,  are  we  not  to  inquire,  to  investigate, 
to  solve,  or  try  to  solve  the  problems  of  life? 
Certainly.  But  we  come  to  a  point  at  last 
where   we  find  that   our  reason  cannot  pene- 


WORLD  CALAMITIES  9 

trate,  and  here  religion  steps  in  and  gives  us  the 
solution. 

Ex- Ambassador  Bryce  recently  said,  "The 
mists  that  hang  around  man's  origin  and  destiny 
are  just  as  deep  as  ever  they  were."  His  in- 
quiring mind  could  not  penetrate  that  mist,  nor 
has  it  ever  been  penetrated  by  man.  Pro- 
fessor Harnack,  one  of  the  greatest  Rationalist 
philosophers  of  the  age,  stated  in  a  lecture  to 
university  graduates  that  "Pure  knowledge 
is  a  glorious  thing  and  woe  to  the  man  who 
holds  it  light  or  blunts  his  sense  for  it.  But 
to  the  question  whence,  whither,  and  to  what 
purpose  are  we?  it  gives  an  answer  to-day  as 
little  as  it  did  two  or  three  thousand  years  ago. 
Gentlemen,  it  is  religion,  the  love  of  God  and 
neighbors,  which  gives  life  a  meaning.  Knowl- 
edge cannot  do  it." 

This  religion  I  present  to  you  in  the  follow- 
ing pages.  I  promise  you  that  if  you  read 
this  book  carefully,  you  will  have  not  only  a 
solution,  but  the  solution.  Only  approach  the 
matter  with  a  clear,  open  mind,  I  beg  of  you. 


10  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

The  truth  asks  no  favors,  all  it  demands  is 
fairness.  Try  to  give  the  matter  the  same 
candid  consideration  you  do  the  events  of 
daily  life.  That  is  not  asking  too  much,  I 
hope. 


CHAPTER  II 

ALL     THINKERS     CONCERNED     ABOUT     RELIGION 


^HE  most  serious  thought  of  the  world 
has  been  given  to  rehgion.  The 
greatest  geniuses  of  all  nations  have 
bestowed  their  best  efforts  on  it.  From  the 
time  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  present  day,  the 
literature  of  the  world  has  given  first  place  to 
religious  topics. 

At  the  very  outset  I  have  mentioned  Jesus 
Christ.  Do  not  infer,  however,  that  I  take 
for  granted  anything  about  Him.  I  shall  later 
consider  His  personality.  In  fact,  Christ  is 
the  basis  of  the  Christian  religion  and  every- 
thing depends  on  who  and  what  He  is.  In 
these  preliminary  remarks,  I  speak  in  the 
traditional  way,  putting  the  subject  before  you 

as  millions  view  it. 

11 


12  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

You,  too,  no  matter  how  busy  you  are,  nor 
how  great  or  Httle  you  may  be,  should  give 
religion  consideration.  Not  to  do  so  is  to  re- 
ject what  has  most  concerned  humanity  all  the 
ages.  If  at  present  there  is  a  wave  of  indif- 
ference abroad,  do  not  be  caught  in  it.  Be 
concerned  about  what  Jesus  Christ  came  from 
heaven  to  bring  us,  what  millions  of  the  best 
men  and  women  have  died  for,  what  hundreds 
of  millions  are  living  for,  what  holds  up  to 
mortal  men  immortality,  what  places  before 
mankind  ideals  which  are  heaven-born  and 
whose  adoption  will  make  you  a  dweller  for- 
ever in  heaven.  Be  not  indifferent  to  such  a 
boon. 

If  a  worldly  prospect  promises  much  or  its 
rejection  threatens  disaster,  men  are  not  in- 
different to  it.  Religion  promises  eternity  of 
happiness  to  those  who  live  by  it,  and  threatens 
eternity  of  misery  to  those  who  reject  it.  Can 
you  aft'ord  to  take  a  chance  when  so  much  is 
at  stake? 


CHAPTER  III 

MEN    OF    GREAT    INTELLIGENCE    DIFFER 


f"  11  ^HE  first  thing  that  strikes  an  in- 
quirer after  rehgious  truth  is  that 
there  is  such  a  difference  of  behef  in 
regard  to  it.  Some  claim  one  rehgion  is  true, 
some  another;  some  reject  rehgion  altogether. 
What  is  one  to  do? 

^Tien  Columbus  affirmed  that  the  world 
was  round,  some  said  it  was  impossible,  some 
believed,  some  wondered.  But  the  world's 
roundness  did  not  depend  on  these  beliefs. 
The  world's  roundness  was  a  fact.  Is  religion 
a  fact?  If  so,  we  must  not  be  surprised  that 
there  are  differences  of  opinion  about  it.  There 
is  hardly  a  fact  in  history  during  the  past  two 
thousand  years  that  has  not  been  subject  to 
various   and   often   opposite   opinions.     Every 

war  is  the  result  of  different  judgments  of  a 

13 


14  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

fact.  The  divergence  of  religious  beliefs  shows 
that  religion  at  all  events  is  a  reality.  Men 
do  not  contend  over  nothing. 

Now  this  reality,  this  religion,  is  it  something 
we  can  be  certain  about?  May  we  know 
its  truth,  or  must  we  be  left  groping?  Why, 
if  religion  is  vital,  should  not  God  make  its 
truth  clear  beyond  doubt?  He  has  done  so. 
Follow  me,  and  you  will  see  that  God  has 
done  His  part.  The  rest  remains  with  us. 
God  is  the  Light  amidst  darkness.  If  men  will 
close  out  the  light.  He  will  let  them,  for  He 
respects  our  liberty.  He  wants  our  free  service. 
He  will  not  force  us. 

Come  with  me,  then,  and  see  all  He  has 
done  to  establish  His  religion,  to  make  it  evi- 
dent, to  win  you  and  me  to  loving  service  here 
and  to  eternal  enjoyment  hereafter.  To  those 
who  receive  Him  He  gives  the  power  to  be- 
come the  children  of  God ! 


/-^ 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  WORLD  MANIFESTS  A  CEEATOR  AND  RULER 

N  order  to  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  our 
inquiry  into  the  true  religion,  we  shall 
begin  with  the  existence  of  God. 

By  the  word  God  we  mean  the  First  Cause 
of  all  things.  Nothing  happens  of  itself. 
Everything  is  caused  by  something  preceding 
it.  But  we  cannot  go  back  forever,  —  we 
must  stop  somewhere.  When  we  get  back 
to  the  stopping-point  we  meet  the  Cause  of 
all.  This  we  call  the  First  Cause.  Since  it 
causes  everything  else  and  itself  was  not 
caused,  it  has  in  itself  its  own  existence  neces- 
sarily. Now  we  shall  show  that  this  First 
Cause  is  personal,  an  infinitely  intelligent  and 
powerful   Being. 

If  we  look  at  a  watch  and  observe  its  wonder- 
ful mechanism  and  unity  of  design,   we  say 

15 


16  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

that  its  maker  is  a  person  of  intelligence  and 
skill.  Now  if  we  can  point  to  something  that 
shows  infinite  power  and  intelligence,  we  may 
say  that  it  calls  for  an  infinitely  powerful  and 
intelligent  maker.     Let  us  consider  the  world. 

The  earth  turns  upon  its  axis  once  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  In  so  doing  it  shows  the  ex- 
penditure of  great  energy.  The  sun,  whose 
limitless  energy  confounds  calculation,  shines 
in  the  heavens.  Moreover,  the  earth  travels  in 
its  orbit,  causing  the  changing  seasons,  a  further 
demonstration  of  immeasurable  energy.  On 
a  starry  night  the  eye  searches  great  distances 
and  beholds  the  constellations,  the  planets,  and 
the  whole  solar  system  moving  around  the  sun, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  mysteries  of  the  infinite 
beyond.  Truly  limitless  energy  with  its  ef- 
fects is  plainly  visible. 

Furthermore,  note  that  the  great  machine 
of  the  universe  is  running  on  time,  even  to 
the  second.  Our  finest  watches  are  but  a 
feeble  imitation  of  the  world  clock.  Our  most 
correct  time  is  taken   at   the  Observatory    of 


WORLD  INIANIFESTS  A  CREATOR  17 

Washington.  Every  day  at  noon  the  as- 
tronomer there  times  his  chronometer  by  the 
firmament,  and  then  by  telegraph  sends  the 
true  time  throughout  the  country.  We  regu- 
late our  watches  by  the  world  clock. 

What  is  the  best  human  timepiece  com- 
pared with  the  wonderful  mechanism  of  the 
universe,  so  infallible,  so  reliable  throughout 
the  years,  in  fact  throughout  all  the  centuries.'^ 
Here  we  have  infinite  energy  with  unvarying 
precision  plainly  visible.  Now  let  us  analyze 
this.  Man  has  never  been  able  to  create  a 
single  foot-pound  of  force.  With  coal  and 
water  power,  steam  and  electricity,  he  can 
transform  force,  but  he  cannot  make  it.  The 
power  to  make  force  exists  above  the  possi- 
bilities of  man,  —  it  is  a  creative  act  demand- 
ing infinite  power. 

There  is  no  bridge  between  nothing  and 
something;  such  a  chaos  is  spanned  only  by 
infinitude.  The  First  Cause  of  force  in  its 
various  manifestations  is  the  Creator.  That 
Creator  is  not  only  the  Architect  of  the  uni- 


18  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

verse,  but  He  maintains  its  infinite  machinery 
in  marvellous  motion  and  accuracy.  The 
greatest  piece  of  mechanism,  the  most  stu- 
pendous feat  of  engineering,  the  sublime  mys- 
tery of  world  dynamics,  the  infinitude  of  the 
firmament,  demonstrate  a  Creator  and  Ruler 
of  the  world,  an  intelligent  and  personal  God. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   SPIRITUALITY   OF   THE   SOUL 

WE  have  seen  that  there  is  an  in- 
telligent and  personal  God  who 
is  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
world.  Let  us  now  consider  man,  for  religion 
means  the  bond  between  man  and  God. 

Man  is  a  creature,  first  of  all,  with  under- 
standing. Mere  matter  does  not  understand, 
so  man  is  more  than  matter. 

Man  is  also  a  creature  with  free  will.  He 
can  say  yes  or  no,  and  no  one  can  force  him 
against  his  will.  Mere  matter  does  not  de- 
termine itself,  so  man  is  more  than  matter. 

Man  is  capable  of  generalizing,  or  rising 
in  thought  above  what  his  senses  perceive. 
For  example,  he  has  ideas  of  the  following 
things    which    do    not    exist    in    themselves: 

19 


20  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

endlessness,  nothing,  future,  abstract.  No  one 
ever  saw  an  abstraction,  yet  man  knows  the 
meaning  of  abstract.  No  one  ever  saw  nothing 
or  felt  it,  or  realized  it  by  any  of  the  senses, 
yet  the  mind  knows  what  nothing  means,  has 
an  idea  of  nothing.  Matter  cannot  abstract 
and  generalize  and  compare,  so  again  man  is 
more  than  matter. 

There  is  a  power  in  man  which  commands 
his  body,  forces  it  to  do  what  he  wishes,  even 
forces  himself  to  do  what  he  shrinks  from. 
A  man  may  feel  tired,  his  body  may  be  fatigued, 
his  limbs  may  be  sore  and  injured,  but  he  can 
compel  his  tired  body  to  work  on.  Mere 
matter  cannot  command,  so  man  is  more  than 
matter. 

Man  can  originate  and  compose.  The  poet 
gives  us  lofty  ideas,  the  musician  creates  mar- 
vellous harmonies  and  melodies,  the  workman 
invents  new  devices.  Mere  matter  cannot 
thus  soar  aloft  and  penetrate  into  the  realms 
of  possibility. 

As  you  read  these  lines,  you  are  doing  your 


SPIRITUALITY  OF  THE  SOUL      2} 

own  thinking,  and  as  a  result  you  may  alter 
your  plan  of  life.  Matter  cannot  estimate 
and  decide,  so  man  is  more  than  matter. 

That  power  in  man  which  is  not  matter  we 
call  spirit.  Man  is  therefore  a  spiritual  being, 
made  up  of  matter  and  spirit.  Religion  means 
the  bringing  of  our  spirit  into  right  relation 
with  the  Creator.  Religion  has  no  connec- 
tion with  matter  or  animals  because  they  can- 
not comprehend.  God  made  them  as  they  are, 
and  they  are  incapable  of  doing  otherwise  than 
as  determined. 

Matter  is  subject  to  fixed  laws  which  no 
power  on  earth  can  change;  animals  are 
subject  to  fixed  laws,  called  instinct,  which 
nothing  can  change.  You  can  teach  an  animal 
a  few  tricks  by  force  of  training,  but  this  is 
merely  artificial,  like  painting  wood  to  re- 
semble oak.  But  man  is  independent;  he  can 
do  as  he  likes;  he  comprehends;  he  is  the 
only  creature  who  can  defy  law;  he  can  use 
his  liberty  even  against  his  own  good.  A 
drunkard,  a   gambler,  a  libertine,  may  know 


22  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

that  he  is  bringing  disease  and  death  on  him- 
self, but  he  may  go  ahead.  Man  can  even 
defy  God  himself.  And  he  does.  That  makes 
sin,  when  a  man  deliberately  does  what  he 
knows  is  wrong. 

Religion  then  means  bringing  man  into  har- 
mony with  God,  bringing  him  into  God's  way 
of  living,  bringing  him  back  to  what  is  right. 
Man  has  a  tendency  to  be  a  law  unto  himself, 
to  do  as  he  likes.  But  God  gave  man  liberty 
to  serve  Him,  to  do  His  will.  He  could  have 
made  man  like  the  rest  of  nature,  subject  to 
fixed  laws,  but  He  did  not.  He  made  him 
free  to  give  him  the  opportunity  of  showing 
loyalty  and  allegiance  to  Him  who  so  wonder- 
fully made  him. 

God's  law  obliges  man  to  direct  his  life  to 
please  God  and  not  to  suit  himself,  and  yet 
we  see  many  people  living  just  to  suit  them- 
selves. But  is  God  to  be  trifled  with?  We 
must  obey  the  laws  of  our  country.  How 
about  God's  laws,  which  are  more  sacred? 
Because  God  is  good  and  patient  and  does  not 


SPIRITUALITY  OF  THE  SOUL     23 

punish  instantly,  it  does  not  follow  that  man 
can  go  on  sinning. 

For  after  death,  the  judgment! 

We  shall  next  consider  the  immortality  of 
the  soul. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL 

"^HERE  is  a  God,  the  Creator  and 
Ruler  of  the  world.  He  gave  laws 
to  all  creation.  Every  scientist 
knows  that.  Every  creature  except  man  is 
governed  by  fixed  laws.  The  stars,  the  planets, 
the  air,  the  chemical  elements,  plants,  water, 
animals,  birds,  —  all  these  are  so  governed  by 
laws,  or  instinct,  that  you  can  foretell  their 
action  under  given  conditions.  But  man  has 
no  fixed  rule  of  action. 

You  can  never  tell  what  a  man  may  de- 
cide on.  You  may  guess,  but  it  is  merely  a 
guess.  He  may  be  surrounded  by  evil  and 
yet  be  good;  on  the  other  hand,  he  may  be 
under  good  influences  and  yet  do  evil.  He 
may  plan  for  the  future,  or  he  may  think  only 
of  the  present;    he  may  prefer  to  die  rather 

24 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL     25 

than  be  a  coward,  or  he  may  not  care  whether 
he  is  considered  a  coward  or  a  knave;  some 
men  prefer  honor  to  Hfe,  others  sacrifice  honor 
for  a  trifle;  a  man  may  be  dying  of  hunger 
and  refuse  to  take  bread  at  the  price  of  sin, 
another  might  sin  for  a  trifle;  the  same  man 
to-day  may  be  an  angel,  to-morrow  a  devil; 
a  man  may  keep  a  law  or  break  it,  whether 
it  be  a  law  of  health,  country,  or  God.  In  a 
word,  a  man  is  free  to  do  right  or  wrong. 

In  giving  him  this  great  power,  did  the 
Creator  intend  to  let  him  use  it  without  ac- 
countability? If  the  Creator  gives  man  a  law, 
is  He  indifferent  as  to  whether  man  observes 
the  law  or  not?  If  man  breaks  the  laws  of 
right  and  justice  which  are  in  his  very  nature, 
does  the  Author  of  nature  not  care?  Did  the 
Creator  give  laws  to  be  broken?  All  this 
leads  up  to  the  question  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul. 

If  you  break  a  law  of  health,  you  suffer  for  it. 
If  you  violate  your  country's  law,  you  are  pun- 
ished.    If  you  violate  God's  law,  what?     We 


26  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

know  that  clever  men  can  be  dishonest  and 
escape  detection,  and  profit  by  their  dishonesty. 
Can  they  cheat  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
world?  Yet  they  seem  to.  Monuments  have 
been  raised  to  men  who  were  scoundrels,  great 
orations  have  been  pronounced  over  men  who 
were  iniquitous.  Either  there  is  another  life 
where  God  rewards  the  good  and  punishes  the 
wicked,  or  else  we  must  conclude  that  he  who 
breaks  the  law  can  laugh  at  the  Lawgiver. 

Unless  man  lives  on  after  death,  God  cares 
as  much  for  those  who  are  disloyal  to  Him  as 
for  those  who  are  loyal.  Unless  man  is  im- 
mortal, the  Creator  made  wise  laws  and  yet 
cares  not  if  they  are  observed.  But  as  God  is 
wise  and  just  and  all-powerful,  He  would  be 
stultifying  Himself,  if  He  made  laws  not  to  be 
observed. 

The  conclusion  then  is  plain.  Since  the 
good  are  not  always  rewarded  here  nor  the 
wicked  always  punished,  there  is  a  hereafter 
where  justice  is  done  to  all.  This  is  a  moral 
argument  based  on  the  fitness  of  things.     We 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL     27 

shall  now  give  a  scientific  proof  of  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul. 

Matter  never  perishes,  but  merely  changes. 
For  instance,  wood  does  not  cease  to  exist 
when  it  is  burned,  but  is  changed  into  ashes, 
smoke,  etc.  The  ashes  and  smoke  again  re- 
solve themselves  into  other  elements,  and  so  on 
indefinitely.  This  is  scientifically  called  the 
indestructibility  of  matter.  Matter  changes 
by  being  broken  up  into  its  component  parts. 
When  it  can  be  no  more  resolved  into  parts, 
it  forms  other  combinations  and  continues 
on  as  another  substance. 

The  soul  is  spiritual.  It  has  no  parts,  it 
cannot  be  divided;  hence  it  cannot  be  destroyed, 
it  cannot  perish;  by  its  very  nature  it  will  last 
forever,  it  is  immortal. 

I  may  add  another  proof.  Every  nation, 
civilized,  or  barbarous,  or  savage,  believes  in 
a  future  state.  This  universal  belief  must 
have  a  foundation  in  nature,  since  it  is  as  ex- 
tensive as  humanity.  The  Creator  is  there- 
fore its  author,   and  it  is  consequently  true. 


28  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Moreover,  there  is  something  in  each  one  of 
us  that  tells  us  that  we  shall  not  end  forever. 
Every  man  at  special  periods  feels  this.  All 
nature  seems  to  proclaim  it.  The  trees  bloom- 
ing after  the  dead  winter,  the  grain  of  corn 
rotted  in  the  soil  springing  to  new  life,  the  base 
caterpillar  feeding  on  the  earth  coming  forth 
from  its  tomb  as  the  beautiful  butterfly,  —  all 
symbolize  the  life  after  death. 

Man,  the  lord  of  creation,  has  certainly  a 
nobler  destiny  than  the  things  he  dominates. 
The  mind  of  man  that  penetrates  in  thought 
the  very  heavens  and  sees  the  almighty  hand 
that  framed  the  universe  has  certainly  a  career 
beyond  the  earth  he  treads  on.  The  Creator 
did  not  put  hopes  in  the  human  breast  merely 
to  mislead  men,  but  to  be  a  guiding  star  to 
higher  and  nobler  things;  yea,  to  lead  man 
back  to  the  very  Author  of  his  being.  The 
Creator  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning 
and  the  end. 

I  have  brought  to  your  consideration  the 
spirituality  and  immortality  of  the  soul  be- 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE   SOUL     29 

cause  nowadays  materialism  is  a  reigning  cult. 
Materialists  proclaim  that  everything  is  matter, 
and  that  consequently  we  need  give  no  thought 
to  religion,  which  concerns  the  spirit. 

Man  likes  to  have  his  own  way,  to  be  his 
own  master;  he  dislikes  to  be  enlightened  if 
it  is  going  to  curtail  his  liberty.  He  listens 
eagerly  to  a  cult  that  flatters  him  and  leaves 
him  great  latitude.  If  the  true  religion  al- 
lowed man  the  license  that  the  various  cults 
and  isms  give  him,  there  is  no  one  in  the  world 
who  would  not  see  the  truth  of  it  and  em- 
brace it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   CREATOR  AND   INIANKIND 

■^T  has  been  demonstrated  in  the  preceding 
pages  that  the  Maker  of  all  things  imposed 
His  will  on  them.  In  the  firmament  and  in 
the  elements  of  earth  this  will  is  expressed  in 
what  we  call  nature's  laws.  They  are  inflex- 
ible. In  animals  it  is  instinct  which  governs 
invariably.  But  what  rules  man?  Con- 
science. This  is  God's  will  conveyed  to  man, 
telling  him  to  do  right  and  to  avoid  wrong. 
As  an  example  of  how  conscience  acts,  take 
a  child  who  tells  his  first  lie.  Wien  for  the 
first  time  he  says  what  he  knows  is  not  so,  a 
blush  comes  to  his  countenance.  This  blush 
is  the  external  sign  of  the  shock  within  as  nature 
cries  out  against  falsehood.  A  confirmed  liar 
shows  no  external  disturbance  because  he  has 
silenced  conscience.    Some  nations  and  some 

30 


THE  CREATOR  AND  IVIANKIND   31 

individuals  have  more  delicate  consciences 
than  others,  but  there  are  certain  fundamental 
things  which  every  people  and  every  person 
feel  to  be  obligatory 

Conscience  is  the  bond  between  the  Creator 
and  the  creature.  And  just  as  an  individual 
may  by  carelessness  or  selfishness  or  licentious- 
ness distort  or  destroy  conscience,  so  may 
nations.  We  have  an  instance  of  this  in  the 
degraded  and  unblushing  immorality  of  ancient 
Rome,  even  at  the  very  height  of  her  civili- 
zation. But  the  Creator  has  nevertheless  as- 
serted Himself.  Nation  after  nation  that  has 
turned  from  righteousness  has  come  to  a  sad 
end. 

And  so  with  the  individual.  He  who  sows 
the  wind  reaps  the  whirlwind.  Often,  how- 
ever, the  wicked  prosper  and  the  just  suffer, 
but  this  is  because  God,  if  He  always  rewarded 
the  good  and  punished  the  wicked  here  below, 
would  be  a  mere  employer,  not  the  Lord  and 
Creator.  God  could  stop  all  the  evil  in  the 
world  instantly  if  He  wished  to,  but  He  would 


32  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

then  be  interfering  with  the  free  will  He  has 
bestowed  on  man.  For  if  He  punished  trans- 
gressions of  His  law  on  the  spot,  man  would 
be  morally  forced  to  keep  it  and  could  give 
no  external  manifestation  of  his  submission 
and  loyalty. 

So  God  permits  evil  in  order  to  leave  man 
free  to  choose  between  good  and  evil.  For  if 
there  were  no  evil  in  the  world,  man  would 
have  no  exercise  of  his  liberty,  which  consists 
in  absolute  freedom  of  choice.  If  a  man  could 
only  do  right,  he  would  be  bound,  not  free. 

Now  with  liberty  goes  responsibility.  Man 
must  answer  for  the  use  he  makes  of  his  won- 
drous gift.  This  brings  him  in  direct  relation 
with  his  Maker.  The  greatest  transgressions 
may  be  those  unseen  by  one's  fellow-man. 
God  alone  knows  all  and  sees  all.  Hence  the 
necessity  of  a  guiding  code  of  morals  by  which 
man  will  be  judged.  This  code  is  written  on 
the  heart  of  man.  It  was  also  given  on  Mt. 
Sinai  in  the  Ten  Commandments.  Even  apart 
from  Mt.   Sinai's  promulgation,  is  there  any 


THE   CREATOR  AND   MANKIND    33 

one  of  the  Ten  Commandments  that  any  decent 
man  would  wish  to  see  revoked?  Would  you 
respect  God  if  He  permitted  lying,  or  steal- 
ing, or  dishonor  to  parents,  or  the  lust  that 
would  rob  you  of  your  wife's  affection  or  your 
daughter  of  her  virtue?  Would  you  respect 
God  if  He  did  not  demand  your  reverence 
and  obedience? 

If  God  is  entitled  to  our  obedience,  He  is 
bound  to  make  known  to  us  His  law.  He 
might  do  this  in  various  ways.  It  is  not  for 
us  to  say  how  He  shall  do  it.  He  could  com- 
mand us  directly  and  personally,  He  could  do 
it  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  He  could  write 
His  law  in  the  firmament  so  that  all  might 
read  it.  But  He  has  not  chosen  to  do  so. 
Instead  He  has  made  a  covenant  with  man- 
kind, employing  human  agencies  to  make 
known  His  dispensations.  This  is  a  state- 
ment. It  requires  proof,  which  we  shall  pro- 
ceed to  give  shortly. 

The  covenant  between  God  and  man  is 
called  religion.     Religion  comes  from  the  two 


34  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Latin  words  re  and  ligo,  which  mean  to  bind 
back.  It  signifies  the  bond  by  which  man 
is  brought  back  into  right  relations  with  God. 
We,  like  sheep,  had  gone  astray;  individuals 
and  nations  had  departed  from  right.  God 
would  bring  back  His  erring  children,  and  the 
ordinary  means  is  by  religion.  This  bond  be- 
tween the  Creator  and  His  creature  we  shall 
now    consider. 

I  ask  you  to  take  up  the  matter  in  a  fair 
way,  as  far  as  possible  without  prejudice. 
Prejudice  kills  right  judgment.  In  a  law  suit, 
see  how  each  party  misjudges  the  other.  That 
is  why  they  must  appear  before  a  judge,  who 
hears  both  sides.  In  our  Civil  War  see  how 
the  North  viewed  the  South  and  the  South 
the  North. 

A  person  who  is  not  a  Christian,  with  diffi- 
culty views  the  Church  rightly.  Among  Chris-, 
tians  behold  how  one  sect  regards  another, 
and,  above  all,  see  how  the  sects  regard  the 
Catholic  Church.  Persons  who  have  joined 
the    Catholic    Church   from   other   denomina- 


THE  CREATOR  AND  MANKIND   35 

tions  marvel  at  the  way  in  which  they  had 
misunderstood  her.  Their  first  and  strongest 
feehng  after  conversion  is  how  they  could 
have  so  mistaken  and  misrepresented  her.  As 
a  rule,  they  burn  with  zeal  to  have  others  see 
her  truth  and  beauty  once  they  have  beheld 
her  as  she  is. 

Christ  said,  speaking  of  His  Church:  "As 
the  world  has  hated  me,  so  will  it  hate  you." 
In  connection  with  this  saying,  I  have  an 
occurrence  to  relate.  It  is  given  by  the  late 
Father  Gallwey,  the  noted  Jesuit.  Three 
English  gentlemen,  who  were  very  literary, 
had  the  custom  of  meeting  at  one  another's 
homes  in  turn  and  discussing  literary  topics. 
They  read,  each  time  they  met,  portions  of 
the  great  masters,  —  Homer,  Virgil,  Horace, 
Dante,  Shakespeare,  etc.  They  always  con- 
cluded by  reading  a  passage  from  the  Bible, 
the  King  James   version. 

It  happened  that  one  day  they  touched  on 
that  part  wherein  Christ  uses  the  words  I  re- 
ferred to:   "As  the  world  has  hated  me,  so  will 


36  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

it  hate  you."  One  of  the  gentlemen  re- 
marked on  hearing  the  phrase  that  it  had  a 
meaning  for  him  which  it  had  never  had  be- 
fore. Christ,  he  said,  was  here  giving  a  char- 
acteristic of  His  Church,  —  it  was  to  be  hated 
and  persecuted  by  the  world.  "Now,  my 
friends,"  he  continued,  "which  of  the  Chris- 
tian churches  does  the  world  to-day  hate  and 
persecute?" 

They  v/ent  into  the  matter  and  concluded 
that  there  was  but  one  church  in  the  world 
with  which  the  world  was  in  opposition,  and 
always  had  been,  the  Catholic  Church.  All 
the  other  churches  had  made  friends  with  the 
world,  were  living  on  good  terms  with  the 
world.  From  the  Apostles  down  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  the  Catholic  Church  stood  out  against 
the  spirit  of  the  world,  and  the  world  stood 
against  it. 

After  these  reflections,  the  three  agreed 
that  it  was  worth  while  looking  into  the  claims 
of  such  a  church.  They  did  so,  and  found  to 
their   astonishment   that   all   their   lives   they 


THE  CREATOR  AND  IVIANKIND   37 

were  opposed  to  a  church  that  they  did  not 
know.  They  had  taken  for  granted  the  state- 
ments of  her  opponents  and  had  arrayed 
themselves  against  her.  On  investigating  for 
themselves,  they  saw  things  differently,  and 
were  convinced  that  she  was  the  true  Church 
of  Christ.  They  had  the  strength  of  their  con- 
victions, for  they  sought  out  a  priest  and  ap- 
plied for  admission  into  the  Church.  Father 
Gallwey  was  the  priest  and  he  it  is  who  gives 
us  these  particulars. 

We  shall  now,  with  unprejudiced  mind,  I 
trust,  consider  the  matter  of  religion  and  its 
relation  to  ourselves  personally.  Please  leave 
others  out  of  the  question  and  reflect  on  the 
points  which  follow  as  a  personal  matter  be- 
tween you  and  your  Maker.     God  and  Myself. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

JESUS   CHRIST 

ALL  very  well,  you  say,  but  you  are 
supposing  that  there  is  a  divine 
religion  and  that  it  is  yours.  Not 
at  all,  as  you  will  see.  There  is  no  supposi- 
tion about  it.  I  stated  the  ideals  and  hopes 
of  millions  merely  to  show  the  magnitude  and 
significance  of  religion,  and  to  have  you  reflect 
on  whether  or  not  you  could  afford  to  ignore 
what  has  been  vital  to  so  many.  But  now  I 
ask  you  to  consider  the  evidence  for  the  di- 
vinity of  the  Christian  religion. 

Kindly  follow  my  statements  as  a  juror 
would  a  witness.  If  there  is  absolute  evidence 
and  logic,  be  courageous  and  give  a  verdict 
accordingly.  No  priest  wants  to  lead  an  in- 
quirer  into   his   religion  except  by  the   light 

38 


JESUS  CHRIST  39 

of  truth.  He  would  give  his  very  life  to 
bring  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  into  an- 
other's life,  but  he  would  not  want  anyone  to 
receive  that  faith  unless  that  one  were  con- 
vinced that  it  was  divine  truth. 

You  will  admit  that  if  Jesus  Christ  is  truly 
God,  we  can  put  absolute  credence  in  Him. 
God  can  neither  deceive  nor  be  deceived.  And 
if,  being  God,  He  declares  that  He  established 
a  religion  and  gives  His  word  that  it  will  be 
in  the  world  to  the  end,  we  can  believe  that 
His  divine  religion  is  in  the  world  to-day. 
That  much  is  clear  and  no  one  can  or  does  take 
exception  to  it.  This  is  a  platform  on  which 
all  can  stand,  no  matter  how  broad  or  narrow 
they  may  be. 

Now,  I  am  not  saying  which  is  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ;  that  will  come  later.  Here  I 
merely  state  that  if  Christ  is  God  and  has 
established  a  religion  to  last  to  the  end,  it  is 
in  the  world  now.  And,  in  passing,  if  God  saw 
fit  to  establish  a  religion  for  you,  you  cannot 
treat  it  lightly. 


40  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Is  Jesus  Christ  God?  A  little  question,  yet 
fundamental  of  all  Christian  belief.  What  I 
propose  to  do  is  this :  To  show  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  God,  that  He  founded  a  divine  Church, 
that  He  commanded  all  to  enter  it,  and  that 
each  one  has  his  own  accountability  to  God 
in  the  matter.  This  is  my  program;  you 
know  just  what  is  before  you;  now  to  proceed. 

There  has  been  more  literature  on  the  per- 
sonality of  Jesus  Christ  than  on  anything  else 
in  the  world.  I  might  take  a  dozen  different 
methods  of  proving  the  divinity,  the  real 
divinity,  of  Jesus  Christ,  but,  as  this  is  only  a 
short  treatise  and  intended  for  ordinary  in- 
quirers, I  select  the  one  which  appeals  to 
ordinary  common  sense,  which  is,  after  all, 
the  safest  standard. 

Jesus  was  born  into  this  world  at  the  time 
foretold  by  the  prophecies,  in  the  manner 
they  describe,  and  in  the  place  specified.  His 
whole  life  is  such  a  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies 
that  it  would  seem  that  they  were  written  after 
His  life  rather  than  hundreds  of  years  before. 


JESUS  CHRIST  41 

He  predicted  definitely  His  own  passion  and 
death  and  resurrection. 

His  whole  life  is  pronounced  by  all  classes 
of  men  the  most  perfect  ever  lived.  He  did 
the  works  which  only  a  divine  power  could  do 
and  pointed  to  them  as  evidence  of  His  di- 
vinity. He  gave  sight  to  the  blind,  cleansed 
the  leper  made  the  cripple  walk,  calmed  the 
angry  elements,  raised  the  dead  to   life. 

He  repeatedly  declared  that  He  was  the 
true  Son  of  God,  one  in  nature  with  the 
Father,  and,  in  the  end,  He  died  for  pub- 
licly declaring  before  the  highest  tribunal  of 
Israel  that  He  was  God.  The  Jews  under- 
stood Him  to  mean  God  in  the  real,  true 
sense,  for  otherwise  they  would  not  have 
charged  Him  with  blasphemy  and  condemned 
Him  to  be  crucified  for  making  Himself  God. 

All  these  facts  are  recorded  in  the  Bible. 
Taking  the  Bible  merely  as  an  historical  docu- 
ment, it  is  the  best  authenticated  book  in 
the  world.  Moreover,  the  Jews  themselves 
never  denied  these  deeds  of  Jesus. 


42  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Jesus  therefore  declared  on  oath  before  the 
sacred  Tribunal  of  His  own  people  that  He 
was  true  God.    Are  we  to  believe  Him? 

All  men  admit  that  Christ  is  the  most  per- 
fect man  that  ever  lived;  now  the  most  per- 
fect man  does  not  deceive;  therefore,  Christ 
is  God. 

But,  you  will  say,  perhaps  He  was  under 
an  hallucination.  All  admit  that  Jesus  is  the 
best  balanced  personality  that  the  world  has 
known.  His  character  was  absolutely  poised 
and  judicial  and  unruffled  and  masterful.  No 
hallucination  there.  Since,  therefore,  Jesus 
was  incapable  of  falsehood  or  of  hallucination. 
His  word  stands.  He  is  God.  Christ  is  either 
God  or  a  had  man. 

Furthermore,  He  had  nothing  to  gain  by 
declaring  Himself  God.  Honors  and  power 
He  did  not  want.  He  knew  that  declaring 
Himself  God  meant  an  ignominious  death, 
but  He  so  declared  Himself.  No  one,  except 
for  truth,  speaks  the  word  which  takes  away 
life. 


JESUS  CHRIST  43 

And  the  teaching  of  Jesus  is  just  what  we 
should  expect  from  one  who  is  divine.  The 
great  St.  Augustine  said  that  he  could  not 
believe  Christ  was  God  if  His  doctrine  was 
conceivable  by  the  human  mind.  "I  believe 
Christ  was  God,  he  said,  because  no  human 
intelligence  ever  conceived  or  could  conceive 
what  He  taught."  The  Blessed  Eucharist,  the 
Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  man,  all  these  are 
conceptions  outside  the  range  of  the  human 
intellect. 

Moreover,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  turning-point 
of  history.  We  date  our  years  before  and 
after  Christ.  We  say  an  event  occurred  B.C. 
(before  Christ)   or  a.d.  (after  Christ). 

Jesus  also  foretold  the  dispersion  and  con- 
tinuation of  the  Jewish  race.  We  know  how 
tenacious  the  Jews  were  of  their  religion  and 
their  country.  The  Jews  to-day  are  the  only 
people  of  the  world  without  a  country,  king 
or  flag.  And  they  are  the  most  intellectual 
and    prosperous    and    race-loving    people   on 


44  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

earth.  The  most  astonishing  thing  is  this: 
Since  the  coming  of  Christ,  the  Jews  have  had 
no  Temple,  no  sacrifice,  no  High  Priest.  This 
is  wonderful  when  we  consider  their  religious 
tenacity. 

Since  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  at  Jeru- 
salem, they  have  had  no  Temple.  Synagogues 
they  have  a  plenty  and  rabbis,  but  no  Temple, 
no  sacrificing  priesthood,  no  High  Priest. 
Jesus,  the  great  High  Priest,  replaced  their 
priesthood,  and  His  Church  replaced  their 
Temple. 

It  may  be  asked.  Why  did  the  Jews  not 
accept  Jesus  if  He  proved  His  claims?  The 
people  did  accept  Him.  Behold  how  they 
acclaimed  Him  in  the  procession  of  palms. 
It  was  because  the  multitude  believed  in 
Jesus  that  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  said: 
We  must  do  something;  all  the  people  are 
following  after  Him.  (John  xi.)  They 
held  a  council  and  decided  to  kill  Christ. 
(John  xii.  9-12.)  But  the  multitude  was  so 
attached  to  Jesus  that  the  leaders  were  afraid 


JESUS   CHRIST  45 

to  proceed  "lest  there  should  be  a  tumult 
among  the  people." 

To-day  we  see  the  same  thing,  in  certain 
quarters,  where  the  will  of  a  few  designing 
men  thwarts  the  will  of  the  people.  The  ac- 
ceptance of  Christ  meant  the  rejection  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees.  They  rejected  Truth 
to  hold  power  because  they  were  blinded  by 
passion,  as  many  are  to-day. 

As  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  divine  Christian  religion,  I  have 
put  it  before  you  in  a  way  which  I  trust  will 
speak  for  itself.  Once  we  know  that  Christ 
is  God,  it  is  our  part  to  accept  reverently 
what  He  says.  We  may  use  all  our  powers  of 
mind  to  examine  and  prove  His  divinity,  — 
that  is  the  right  use  of  reason,  —  but  once  we 
see  that  He  is  God,  it  is  our  duty  to  believe 
Him. 

God  does  not  ask  us  to  understand  Him, 
but  to  believe  Him,  to  serve  Him,  and  to  love 
Him.  We  can  scarcely  understand  our  fellow- 
men;   how  may  we  hope  to  comprehend  God? 


46  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

He  wants  us  to  trust  Him,  as  a  child  does  its 
mother.  He  wants  us  to  honor  His  truthful- 
ness by  believing  Him  simply  because  He 
says  so.  This  is  the  meaning  of  Faith.  There 
is  no  faith  where  you  verify  and  comprehend. 
You  believe  two  and  two  make  four,  not  on 
anyone's  word,  but  because  it  is  evident. 
You  believe  the  world  is  round  because  you 
can  travel  round  it.  But  you  believe  a  doc- 
tor on  faith  when  he  tells  you  that  you  have 
pneumonia,  and  you  take  a  prescription  from 
a  druggist  on  faith,  not  because  you  ascer- 
tain it  is  correct,  but  because  you  trust  in 
his  knowledge  and  uprightness.  Nearly  all 
human  lives  are  lived  largely  by  trust  in  one 
another.     God  wants  us  to  trust  Him! 

Realizing  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God,  and  that 
heaven  and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  not  His 
word,  we  shall  next  consider  if  He  established 
a  religion  in  the  world  and  gave  it  a  character 
by  which  we  may  readily  know  it. 


CHAPTER  IX 

ONE   TRUE  RELIGION 

E  have  seen  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
God.  He  came  upon  earth  and 
became  one  of  us  in  order  to  raise 
us  up  from  this  earth  to  heaven.  God  became 
man  that  men  might  become  the  children  of 
God.  How  do  we  laiow  this?  From  His 
own  words.  We  have  seen  that  once  we  be- 
Heve  that  Christ  is  God,  we  take  as  true  what 
He  declares,  so  there  will  be  no  further  argu- 
ment about  His  words.  We  may  and  should 
use  all  the  reason  God  has  given  us  to  investi- 
gate if  He  is  God,  but  that  once  determined, 
it  is  the  dictate  of  sound  reason  to  accept 
without  question  what  He  says. 

Christ  says:  "He  who  follows  me  shall  have 
a  hundredfold  and  life-  everlasting;  He  who 
loses  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it;   I  go  to 

47 


48  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

prepare  a  place  for  you."  To  the  penitent 
thief.  He  said:  "This  day  thou  shalt  be  with 
me  in  Paradise."  In  regard  to  the  multitudes, 
He  said:  "Father,  I  will  that  where  I  shall  be 
they  also  shall  be."  Finally,  hear  His  words 
to  those  who  have  hved  goodly  lives:  "Come, 
ye  blessed  of  my  Father  and  possess  the  king- 
dom of  heaven." 

Christ  came  not  merely  for  the  people  who 
lived  in  His  day,  but  for  all  nations  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  But  how  was  He  to  reach  them 
and  minister  unto  them.?  He  could  have  done 
it  in  various  ways,  but  we  must  consider,  not 
what  He  might  have  done,  but  what  He  did. 
And  how  did  He  provide  for  His  ministry  to 
men?  He  established  a  Church  which  was 
to  continue  forever  the  work  He  began.  And 
how  do  we  know  this?  From  His  plain  decla- 
ration: "Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  thee  I  will 
build  my  church."  (Matt.  xvi.  17-20.)  "As  the 
Father  hath  sent  me,  so  I  send  you."  (John 
XX.  21.)  "Go  ye  into  the  whole  world  and 
preach   the   things   I   have   commanded   you, 


ONE  TRUE  RELIGION  49 

and  behold  I  shall  be  with  you  all  days  to 
the  end  of  the  world."  (Matt,  xxviii. 
18-20.)  This  Church,  then,  is  a  teaching 
body,  truly  representing  Christ  on  earth. 
For  this  reason  He  gave  to  His  Church  all 
the  power  of  an  ambassador:  "He  who 
hears  you,  hears  me."  "All  power  is  given  %o 
me  in  heaven  and  on  earth."  "As  the  Father 
hath  sent  me,  so  I  send  you."  What  Christ 
is  to  the  eternal  Father,  the  Church  is  to 
Christ.  The  best  definition  of  the  Church  is 
to  state  that  it  is  the  continuation  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  world. 

Our  divine  Lord,  having  thus  established  a 
religion,  took  good  care  to  guarantee  its  con- 
tinuation and  absolute  truth.  Here  is  His 
guarantee:  "The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  pre- 
vail against  it;  The  Spirit  of  Truth,  whom 
my  Father  will  send,  will  teach  you  all  truth; 
I  shall  be  with  you  all  days  to  the  end  of  the 
world."  Christ  cannot  be  with  error;  hence, 
we  have  here  the  guarantee  of  infallibility  to 
His  Church.     Indeed,  how  could  a  represent- 


50  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

ative  of  God  be  anything  else  but  truth  it- 
self? Christ  did  not  say  His  Church  would 
not  have  human  frailty;  indeed,  He  foretold 
that  scandals  would  come;  but  what  He  did 
foretell  and  guarantee  was  that  it  should  never 
teach  error. 

A  judge  of  a  court  may  not  be  an  impec- 
cable man,  but  he  may  be  a  good  judge.  A 
doctor  may  be  subject  to  illness,  but  he  may 
nevertheless  be  an  excellent  doctor  and  pre- 
scribe beneficially  for  others.  So  the  Church 
of  God,  which  is  not  made  up  of  angels,  but  of 
men,  may  in  some  of  her  pastors  fail  to  live 
up  to  its  own  high  teaching,  but  by  God's 
special  guarantee,  it  can  never  teach  what  is 
false. 

We  have  not  stated  yet  what  church  is  the 
one  founded  by  Christ  and  guaranteed  as  His 
representative.  Only  this  have  we  declared 
and  demonstrated:  that  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God,  established  a  Church,  and  that  He  made 
it  His  representative  among  men  and  guar- 
anteed it  against  misrepresenting  Him. 


ONE  TRUE  RELIGION  51 

Next,  we  shall  proceed  to  find  out  where 
that  Church  is  to-day,  for  we  have  God's  word 
that  it  is  in  the  world,  and  will  be  unto  the 
end. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    TRUE   RELIGION 

"^OW  we  come  to  a  delicate  point, 
delicate  because  very  many  who 
have  agreed  with  all  we  have  hither- 
to said  will  here  begin  to  be  sensitive  and  even 
suspicious.  No  one  readily  grants  that  he  is 
not  right.  That  is  why  the  proud  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  rejected  Jesus.  His  teaching  was 
not  according  to  their  notion.  Instead  of 
realizing  and  confessing  that  He  was  God, 
since  He  did  the  works  of  God,  they  explained 
away  His  deeds,  distorted  His  words  and  re- 
jected Him.  They  could  not  deny  His  miracu- 
lous deeds,  but  they  attributed  them  to  Satan; 
and  when  Christ  refuted  them,  although  si- 
lenced, they  would  not  be  convinced. 

Evidence  is  not  enough  unless  the  mind  that 
views  it  is  candid.  Every  day  we  see  people 
who,  with  the  same  facts  before  them,  draw 

5i 


THE   TRUE  RELIGION  53 

different  and  contradictory  conclusions.  The 
fault  is  not  with  the  evidence,  but  with  the 
attitude  of  the  beholder.  So  I  ask  you,  who- 
ever you  be  and  of  whatever  religious  belief, 
to  look  quietly  and  attentively  at  the  facts  I 
am  about  to  present. 

God  is  not  going  to  ask  you  about  others, 
but  about  yourself.  God  and  Myself.  He  is 
not  going  to  ask  of  you  an  account  of  your 
ancestors'  religion,  but  of  your  own.  Your 
opportunities  may  be  different  from  theirs. 
He  will  judge  you  by  your  own  accountability. 
If  at  the  time  of  our  Lord  people  refused  to 
listen  to  Him  and  follow  Him  because  they 
would  have  to  change  their  views,  Christianity 
never  would  have  existed. 

God  gives  you  light  even  while  reading  these 
pages,  which  makes  you  a  different  person  with 
a  larger  responsibility.  People  at  Jerusalem 
who  heard  and  saw  Jesus  were  differently 
judged  from  those  who,  living  at  the  same  time, 
neither  saw  nor  heard  Him.     God  and  Myself. 

I  ask  you  to  consider  calmly  the  things  I  am 


54  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

now  to  say,  and  to  be  guided  by  the  light  of 
truth,  not  by  the  darkness  of  prejudice.  It 
makes  no  difference  to  me  personally  what 
effect  my  words  may  have  on  you.  All  I  seek 
is  to  do  good,  to  please  my  Master,  God,  and 
to  do  you  a  service  by  making  you  dearer  to 
God.  If  there  is  any  personal  element  in  what 
I  am  doing,  it  is  the  joy  which  the  follower  of 
Christ  has  in  bringing  into  a  human  soul  the 
light  and  peace  which  He  came  to  impart.  As 
Christ  gave  His  life  for  His  religion,  so  His 
minister  will  give  his  life,  if  necessary,  to  extend 
that  religion,  and  this  because  he  knows  that 
what  Christ  says  is  so:  "What  doth  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his 
soul?"     God  and  Myself. 

Which  is  the  divine  religion  established  by 
Jesus  Christ.''  Is  there  one,  or  are  there  many 
such?  Are  there  several  religions  which  may 
equally  be  the  Church  of  Christ?  We  have 
among  us  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Bap- 
tists, Methodists,  Lutherans,  Catholics.  Are 
they  all  right?     Are  they  all  wrong? 


THE  TRUE  RELIGION  55 

I  must  confess  that  to  me  it  is  painful  to 
see  so  many  claimants.  I  know  so  many 
people  of  different  denominations  whom  I 
esteem  that  I  hate  to  believe  that  their  belief 
is  not  right.  Here  let  me  say  a  very  im- 
portant thing.  In  considering  this  matter,  we 
must  distinguish  between  the  man  and  his 
creed.  A  man  may  be  personally  sincere,  yet 
his  religion  may  be  wrong;  in  condemning  his 
religion,  we  do  not  condemn  him.  On  the 
other  hand,  his  rehgion  may  be  true,  yet  he 
may  be  personally  a  very  bad  man. 

We  see  this  in  various  other  matters.  For 
instance,  in  politics,  a  Republican  may  de- 
nounce the  Democratic  party,  yet  esteem  the 
individual  Democrat.  I  know  a  Democrat  who 
spent  most  of  his  energy  denouncing  Repub- 
licans, yet  his  own  son  and  his  best  friends 
were  Republicans.  You  may  condemn  suffra- 
gettism,  yet  admire  and  esteem  the  individual 
suffragette,  and  vice  versa. 

So  in  this  vital  matter  of  religion,  we  have 
the  greatest  consideration  for  the  individual 


56  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

who  may  be  in  error,  but  for  the  error  itself 
we  have  no  tolerance.  Christ  Himself  sets  us 
the  example  in  this  by  His  love  for  the  sinner, 
although  He  hated  and  denounced  sin.  In 
considering  the  various  religions,  we  shall 
demonstrate  that  there  is  but  one  true  religion, 
the  others  being  consequently  not  true.  But 
individuals  in  those  others  may  be  sincere, 
and  if  in  the  sight  of  God  they  are  doing  all  in 
their  power  to  live  as  God  wants  them  to  do, 
they  are  in  a  certain  sense  in  the  true  Church, 
though  not  specifically  so. 

A  man  may  be  nominally  a  Socialist,  yet 
his  life  and  conduct  might  be  altogether  at 
variance  with  the  logical  platform  of  that 
party.  So  a  person  may  be  of  a  religious 
denomination  which  is  false,  and  yet  live  su- 
perior to  it.  Cardinal  Newman,  who  had  the 
experience,  said  that  a  Protestant  was,  as  a 
rule,  better  than  his  religion.  I  myself  have 
received  many  persons  from  various  denomi- 
nations into  the  Catholic  faith,  and  I  have 
often  found  that  at  heart  they  were  Catholics 


THE  TRUE  RELIGION  57 

all  along.  By  this  I  mean  that,  although 
Protestants,  they  were  acting  on  Catholic 
principles,  without  knowing  it.  All  the  great 
saving  truths  of  Protestantism  are  what  were 
carried  into  it  from  the  Catholic  faith.  There 
is  not  a  single  truth  in  Protestantism  that 
does  not  exist  in  Catholicism.  I  say  not  a 
single  truth,  for  you  will  find  that  everything 
that  is  absolutely  true  in  every  religion  of 
the  world  is  in  the  Catholic  religion,  —  only 
without  any  admixture  of  error.  But  I  am 
anticipating. 

We  have  got  to  the  point  where  we  are  to 
consider  which  is  the  true  religion.  From 
what  I  have  said  you  will  understand  that 
we  are  considering  the  creed  itself,  not  its 
adherents.  We  judge  no  man;  that,  we  leave 
to  God;  but  we  can  judge  a  creed,  which  is 
something  tangible  and  subject  to  analysis. 
Now  I  am  going  to  strike  at  the  very  heart  of 
things  at  once,  and  show  that  there  is  but  one 
religion  in  the  world  which  is  divine.  In 
doing  this,  all  the  others  necessarily  must  be 


58  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

rejected.  You  will  understand  that  I  am  pro- 
ceeding in  all  kindness  and  consideration. 

To  begin,  then,  I  say  that  there  is  but  one 
Church  in  the  world  that  goes  back  directly 
to  Jesus  Christ.  In  establishing  His  religion, 
Christ  said  to  Peter:  "Upon  thee  I  will  build 
my  church."  This  was  a  visible  teaching 
church,  with  definite  doctrine  and  external 
ritual.  "Go  ye  forth  into  the  whole  world, 
teaching  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you,  baptizing  in  the  name  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

A  teaching  church  is  a  visible  church;  a 
church  which  administers  baptism  is  a  church 
with  an  external  ritual.  Consequently  we  ask 
what  church  with  a  teaching  ministry  and 
external  rites  now  exists  in  the  world  which 
goes  back  as  a  visible  church  to  the  very 
person  of  Peter  and  Jesus  Christ.  There  is 
but  one,  the  Catholic  Church,  whose  head  is 
the  Pope,  the  successor  of  Peter  and  the  repre- 
sentative of  Christ.  No  other  church  dates  its 
origin  from  the  Apostolic  times.     Calvinists  be- 


THE  TRUE  RELIGION  59 

gan  with  John  Calvin  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
Lutherans  began  with  Martin  Luther,  Episco- 
paHans  with  Henry  VIII,  and  so  on. 

But,  you  may  say,  the  Protestant  Church 
is  the  Church  of  Christ,  purified  of  error,  and 
only  this  purified  form  dates  from  Luther.  I 
answer  that  you  must  chose  between  Luther 
and  Christ.  Jesus  said  His  Church  would 
never  teach  error;  Luther  says  it  did  teach 
error.  If  Luther  is  right,  Christ  is  wrong; 
but  if  Christ  is  right,  Luther  and  all  his  fol- 
lowers  are   wrong. 

But,  you  may  say,  was  not  the  Church  in 
a  deplorable  condition  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, were  not  the  lives  of  some  of  its  high 
clergy  scandalous?  I  reply:  yes,  it  is  only 
too  true,  but  Christ  did  not  guarantee  His 
Church  against  scandal,  but  against  error. 
There  were  scandals  in  the  Church  even  while 
Jesus  was  with  it.  Judas  was  a  thief  and  a 
traitor  and  a  suicide;  Peter,  the  head,  swore 
to  a  falsehood;  James  and  John  quarrelled 
over  supremacy;    St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  were 


60  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

at  variance  over  circumcision;  and  Paul  ex- 
communicated one  of  the  faithful  for  unspeak- 
able lust. 

The  Church  is  made  up  of  men  not  angels. 
The  triumph  of  the  Church  is  not  in  being 
composed  of  sinless  mortals,  but  in  supplying 
sinful  man  with  means  to  carry  on  the  struggle 
against  his  vicious  tendencies.  For  that  reason 
the  Catholic  Church  has  always  been  the 
friend  of  sinners,  although  hating  sin.  But 
Jesus  by  His  divine  power  guaranteed  that 
His  Church,  even  if  composed  of  weak  and 
sinful  men,  would  never  teach  error. 

The  Church  may  have  needed  houseclean- 
ing  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  the  way  to 
clean  house  is  not  to  dynamite  it.  A  child 
may  have  a  very  dirty  face,  and  yet  be  ab- 
solutely pure  and  healthy  of  skin.  A  doctor 
may  be  a  bad  man  but  a  very  good  doctor. 
And  the  Church  may  have  been  scandalous  in 
the  lives  of  some  of  its  high  dignitaries  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  but  nevertheless  it  was 
absolutely  free  from  error.     A  mother  may  be 


THE  TRUE  RELIGION  61 

leading  a  very  sinful  life  and  yet  guard  her 
daughter  from  the  same  way  of  living  and  even 
teach  her  noble  ideals. 

I  know  personally  of  an  unfortunate  woman 
who,  though  steeped  in  vice  herself,  taught 
her  daughter  the  highest  morality.  Afterwards 
the  daughter  became  a  nun,  and  when  her 
mother  was  dying,  an  outcast  in  a  city  hos- 
pital, it  was  her  daughter  who  held  her  dying 
head  and  helped  her  to  call  on  God  for  the 
pardon  He  never  refuses  to  the  humble  and 
contrite  of  heart.  Should  a  daughter  reform 
her  mother  by  taking  her  life.'* 

If  God  in  His  Providence  and  in  order 
to  show  the  inherent  vitality  of  His  Church 
permitted  it  to  lapse  in  conduct,  He  did  not 
allow  it  to  err  in  doctrine.  Indeed,  He  fore- 
saw and  foretold  this  very  condition  when  He 
said:  "The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  have  sitten 
on  the  chair  of  Moses;  do  as  they  teach  you 
but  do  ye  not  as  they  do." 

The  divinity  of  the  Catholic  Church  shines 
out  by  the  very  fact  that  no  matter  what  she 


62  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

may  have  been  during  the  ages,  her  doctrine 
has  always  been  true.  Show  me  one  false 
teaching  of  the  Church  in  faith  or  morals  dur- 
ing the  past  two  thousand  years,  and  I 
will  grant  you  that  she  is  not  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

Hurter,  a   very  learned   Protestant  divine, 
who  eventually  became  a  Catholic  and  a  cham- 
pion of  Catholicism,  said  that  in  dealing  with 
Protestants   and   unbelievers   it   was   a   waste 
of  time  to  go  into  historic  details.     History  is 
often  an  uncertain  witness,  as  we  know.     The 
writer's  views  are  colored  by  his  own  bias. 
Take  the  great  world  war  that  began  in  1914. 
If  you  read  one  side,  you  will  think  the  other 
absolutely  culpable,  and  vice  versa.    A  world 
war  has  been  going  on  for  centuries  in  the  realm 
of   religion.     The  Church   of   Christ   and   the 
world  have  been  and  always  will  be  at  variance. 
Their  spirit  is  essentially  different.     The  world 
stands    for    time    and    material    welfare,    the 
Church  stands  for  eternity  and  the  welfare  of 
the  immortal  soul     Hence  the  antagonism. 


THE  TRUE  RELIGION  63 

Consequently  history  reflects  this  antagonism. 
Facts  in  the  life  of  the  Catholic  Church  which 
constitute  her  greatest  glory  have  been  dis- 
torted into  accusations  against  her.  All  down 
through  the  centuries  she  has  stood  for  justice 
and  has  been  the  friend  of  the  oppressed.  No 
wonder  if  some  of  the  mighty  ones  of  earth  who 
wished  to  have  a  free  hand  and  who  were  re- 
strained by  her  should  calumniate  her.  And, 
as  they  were  in  power,  they  had  the  means  of 
spreading  their  calumnies. 

'In  sifting  history,  the  task  is  interminable 
to  pass  on  each  individual  case  that  comes 
up  m  the  career  of  the  Church.  But  this 
we  know,  —  that  history  has  proclaimed  the 
death  of  the  Church  a  hundred  times.  Gen- 
eration after  generation  have  mustered  her 
out  of  service,  but  to-day  she  is  the  most 
widespread  and  united  and  vigorous  organiza- 
tion in  the  world.  Time  and  again  she  has 
seen  the  grass  grow  over  the  graves  of  those 
who  have  tolled  her  death  knell.  Nothing 
tests  truth  like  time. 


64  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

The  best  way  to  proceed  with  a  Protestant 
inquirer  is  to  get  right  down  to  incontrovert- 
ible ground.  Was  Jesus  Christ  God?  Yes, 
or  no?  If  no,  there  is  no  use  proceeding,  as 
the  whole  Christian  platform  falls  and  all 
Christianity  is  an  imposition.  If  He  was  God, 
He  is  divine  Truth,  and  all  that  He  says  and 
promises  is  true.  Did  He  establish  a  visible 
church?  Yes,  or  no?  If  He  did  not,  there 
is  no  use  looking  for  it;  if  He  did,  then  it  is 
somewhere  in  the  world  to-day,  for  He  declared 
it  was  to  last  until  the  end  of  the  world. 

Did  He  guarantee  His  Church  against  error? 
Yes,  or  no?  If  not,  we  never  know  when  it 
must  be  believed;  it  is  not  a  true  guide;  it 
cannot  represent  Him.  If  He  did  guarantee 
it  against  error,  then  it  never  has  erred,  for 
God's  guarantee  is  indeed  a  guarantee.  How, 
then,  about  the  reformers?  They  were  wrong, 
—  either  they,  or  Christ.  But  how  about 
the  state  of  the  Church  at  various  periods? 
Shocking,  absolutely  shocking.  No  one  ob- 
served it  more  or  lamented  it  more  than  the 


THE   TRUE   RELIGION  65 

children  of  the  Church.  They  were  at  times 
ashamed  almost  of  their  Mother;  they  labored 
and  prayed  for  her  betterment.  Some  of  the 
greatest  saints  devoted  their  lives  to  remedying 
matters.  But  they  never  thought  of  denying 
their  Mother. 

If  God  saw  fit  to  allow  His  Spouse  to  be 
at  times  weak  and  pitiable,  it  was  to  try  the 
faith  of  His  children  and  to  show  the  vitality 
of  their  Mother.  If  the  Church  always  stood 
forth  plainly  divine,  there  would  be  no  aston- 
ishment at  our  faith  in  her,  but  to  see  in  her 
the  Spouse  of  Christ  at  all  times  because 
He  declared  that  she  was,  that  indeed  is 
faith. 

And  she  has  justified  it.  If  she  were  not 
divine,  she  would  have  perished  a  hundred  times. 
But  look  at  her  now,  the  admiration  of  the 
world  for  her  lofty  teaching,  her  uncompro- 
mising dogma,  her  marvellous  organization, 
her  power  over  various  peoples,  her  austere, 
divine  principles!  She  has  indeed  seen  fight- 
ing,  she  has  been  through  many  battles,   at 


G6  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

times  she  was  hard  fought,  but  has  she  not 
come  through  it  all  worthy  of  her  Spouse,  our 
divine  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ? 

Jesus  Christ  is  God,  He  established  one  true 
Church,  that  Church  is  the  Catholic  Church. 


CHAPTER  XI 

HOW   SO   MANY  ARE   IN   ERROR 

^  II  'he  sight  of  SO  many  prominent 
people  who  are  not  of  the  Catholic 
faith  naturally  makes  us  wonder 
if  they  are  WTong  and  we  right.  In  the  United 
States  what  we  call  Society  is  for  the  most  part 
Protestant.  Society  and  wealth  usually  go 
together.  In  Belgium  and  France  and  Spain 
and  Austria  and  other  countries,  society  is 
mainly  Catholic.  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to 
show  you  most  satisfactorily  how  so  many  of 
our  eminent  people  are  without  the  fold. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
all  Europe  was  Catholic.  Then  came  a  di- 
vision called  the  Reformation.  Martin  Luther 
accused  the  Church  of  teaching  error.  As 
we  have  seen,  Christ  said  His  Church  should 
never  teach  error.     The   Catholic  Church  at 

67 


68  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

that  time  was  the  acknowledged  Church  of 
Christ,  so  it  was  a  question  between  Christ 
and  Luther.  If  the  Church  was  in  error,  so 
was  Christ,  who  had  guaranteed  it  against 
error.  Between  Luther  and  Christ,  we  must 
stand  with  Christ  and  the  CathoHc  Church. 

But  now  see  what  happened.  The  Re- 
formers claimed  that  they  were  separating  from 
the  Catholic  Church  because  of  its  doctrine 
and  morals.  We  should  expect  then  that  the 
Reformers  would  be  men  of  high  morality, 
and  that  their  teaching  would  be  the  truth. 
Wliat  do  we  find?  The  leaders  of  the  Reforma- 
tion soon  split  up  into  numerous  sects,  each 
condemning  the  other,  denying  to  others  the 
right  of  interpretation  they  claimed  for  them- 
selves, and  soon  created  religious  chaos.  Their 
own  morals  and  those  of  their  followers  were 
worse  than  those  of  the  Church  which  they 
sought  to  reform.     This  is  history. 

Luther  himself,  after  seeing  the  prevalent 
vice  which  his  movement  caused,  exclaimed 
that  the  floodgates  of  sin  and  depravity  were 


HOW  SO  MANY  ARE  IN  ERROR    69 

opened  upon  the  people.  Again,  he  declared 
that  he  would  like  to  destroy  with  one  stroke 
the  great  multitudes  whom  his  own  teaching 
had  turned  into  a  vicious  horde.  The  morals 
were  bad,  the  teaching  was  worse. 

Truth  is  one  and  the  same  always.  That  is 
why  the  Catholic  Church  never  changes.  But 
each  Reformer  taught  the  contradictory  of 
the  other.  If  one  was  right,  the  others  were 
wrong;  that  is  as  clear  as  day.  You  had 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  Baptists  and  Ana- 
baptists, Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians,  all 
contending  among  themselves,  each  declaring 
the  other  in  error.  And  it  was  no  minor  error 
they  accused  each  other  of,  but  of  vital  and 
essential  error;  so  much  so  that  they  fought 
and  bled  for  their  contention. 

But  what  has  all  this  got  to  do  with  the 
question  we  began  with,  namely,  how  is  it  that 
so  many  learned  and  respectable  people  are 
not  Catholics  if  the  Catholic  Church  is  the 
true  Church.?  \Miat  we  have  been  touching 
on  has  everything  to  do  with  the  matter,  as 


70  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

you  shall  see.  First  of  all,  if  these  leaders  are 
in  error,  their  followers  are  also.  But  if  they 
were  in  error,  how  did  they  get  such  a  follow- 
ing? This  is  the  very  point  of  the  whole  ques- 
tion.    I  shall  state  the  reason  in  brief  form. 

Certainly  at  first  sight  it  seems  impossible 
that  so  many  people  as  the  Protestant  sects 
number  should  be  misled,  that  they  should 
be  in  error.  Well,  now,  just  see  how  it  hap- 
pened. As  in  the  world  war  there  are  millions 
of  men  engaged  on  both  sides  who  hold  that 
they  are  right,  and  yet  both  sides  are  not  right, 
so  in  the  upheaval  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

In  the  Reformation,  the  leaders  had  per- 
sonal motives  for  their  stand.  They  appealed 
to  the  pride  and  independence  and  passion 
and  covetousness  of  human  nature.  To  those 
in  power  they  pointed  out  the  wealth  to  be 
gained  by  confiscating  Church  property,  and 
the  independence  they  would  have  by  separat- 
ing from  the  Mother  Church  and  its  authority. 
With  some  temporal  princes  thus  won  over, 
and  by  making  the  new  religion  easy  for  the 


HOW  SO  IVIANY  ARE  IN  ERROR    71 

people  at  large,  the  reformers  gradually  won 
over  a  considerable  following. 

It  would  take  me  too  far  out  of  the  way 
to  go  into  details  in  this  regard  and  to  give 
the  proofs  of  all  that  I  state.  I  am  giving  the 
mere  outlines.  Consult  the  history  of  the 
period,  and  you  will  find  substantiation  for 
all  I  advance.  But  do  not  take  Protestant 
authors  only. 

In  passing  I  will  merely  say  that  in  England 
Henry  VIII  either  put  to  death  or  put  into 
prison  everyone  of  importance  who  did  not 
follow  him  in  his  revolt  from  the  Mother 
Church.  TMiat  was  the  result?  In  the  be- 
ginning, some  joined  the  Protestant  move- 
ment for  gain,  some  for  license,  and  some  to 
escape  imprisonment  and  death.  The  princes 
in  their  endeavor  to  justify  their  position  did 
all  in  their  power  to  blacken  the  Church  that 
they  had  separated  from. 

In  consequence,  as  in  England,  no  one  was 
allowed  to  speak  or  write  in  defence  of  the 
Catholic   Church.      On   the   other   hand,   the 


72  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

land  was  filled  with  literature  abusing  and 
misrepresenting  Catholicity.  After  years  of 
persecution  and  calumny,  the  people  at  large 
hardly  knew  the  truth.  Gradually  the  new 
generations  took  it  for  granted  that  the  re- 
ligion they  were  born  in  and  which  they  saw 
by  law  established  was  the  true  one,  and  they 
simply  continued  in  it. 

The  very  sources  of  truth  were  poisoned,  so 
that  later  those  who  investigated  the  claims 
of  their  religion  came  back  to  these  false 
documents. 

Newman,  who  was  one  of  the  most  learned 
Protestants  of  the  past  three  centuries,  de- 
clares that  English  history  since  the  sixteenth 
century  has  been  a  conspiracy  against  truth. 
Now  he  was  virtually  the  pope  of  Protestantism 
and  his  words  should  carry  conviction.  New- 
man, a  born  Protestant,  a  learned  Protestant, 
a  good  Protestant,  a  man  who  believed  that 
Rome  was  Babylon  and  the  Pope  Antichrist, 
this  man  opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church   and   to   everything   about   it   simply 


HOW  SO  MANY  ARE   IN  ERROR    73 

because  it  was  born  in  him,  this  man  of  gigantic 
intellect,  eventually  saw,  in  spite  of  his  en- 
vironment of  prejudice,  that  the  Catholic 
Church  was  the  one  true  Church  of  Christ. 

The  reason  so  many  people  are  not  Cath- 
olics is  because  so  many  have  been  robbed  of 
their  inheritance  of  truth.  They  go  on  in  the 
religion  they  find  themselves  in,  hardly  giving 
it  a  thought,  taking  it  for  granted  that  it  is 
the  true  religion.  But  when  they  do  go  seri- 
ously at  analyzing  their  position,  they  find  that 
it  has  no  foundation,  and  they  give  up  religious 
faith  altogether  or  become  Catholics.  That 
is  the  experience  of  thousands,  hundreds  of 
thousands.  The  best  and  most  intellectual 
of  Protestants  are  the  ones  who,  if  they  in- 
vestigate, become  Catholics. 

Recently  Protestantism  has  been  going  from 
bad  to  worse.  It  has  been  broken  up  into 
innumerable  sects,  so  that  now  it  has  no  fixed 
creed.  Truth  never  changes.  Protestantism 
is  distintegrating  into  rationalism,  infidelity, 
materialism.     Most  of  the  inquirers  who  come 


74  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

to  me  for  information  on  religion  tell  me  that 
they  are  Protestants  in  name  only.  They  do 
not  know  what  they  should  believe;  in  fact, 
they  have  no  definite  creed. 

Contrast  that  with  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  has  not  changed  one  article  of  faith  from 
the  day  of  the  Apostles  to  our  own.  That 
does  not  mean  that  it  is  a  fossil.  It  is  the 
most  active  organization  in  the  world  to-day. 
The  multiplication  table  has  not  changed  in 
the  past  two  thousand  years.  It  is  not  a 
fossil.     The  truth  never  changes. 

My  answer,  then,  to  the  question  of  why 
so  many  who  are  of  other  sects  can  be  in 
error  is  this:  They  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  religion  they  are  born  in  is  true.  Their 
ancestors  were  robbed  of  the  true  faith  by 
violence,  flattery,  and  worldy  inducements. 
History  and  literature  have  been  perverted 
to  serve  the  cause  of  error.  But  those  who 
sincerely  investigate  usually  come  back  to  the 
Mother  Church,  the  Church  founded  by  Christ, 
the  Catholic  Church. 


HOW  SO  IVIANY  ARE  IN  ERROR   75 

Lest  it  may  seem  that  the  foregoing  state- 
ments represent  an  unfriendly  or  extreme  view 
of  the  matter,  I  quote  the  following  from  the 
AthencBum  (London). 

"There  is  no  living  writer  more  thoroughly 
equipped  for  producing  a  trustworthy  work 
on  the  English  Reformation  than  Dr.  Gairdner 
(non-Catholic).  Now  that  the  one  man  in 
all  England  who  has  the  whole  of  the  facts 
at  his  fingers'  ends  has  spoken  with  such  de- 
liberation, no  decent  writer,  however  stanchly 
antipapist  in  his  convictions,  ought  to  cite 
Legh  or  Layton  to  substantiate  tales  of  the 
vicious  lives  of  the  monks.  'It  was  only  after 
an  able  and  despotic  King,'  says  Gairdner, 
'had  proved  himself  stronger  than  the  spiritual 
power  of  Rome  that  the  people  of  England 
were  divorced  from  the  Roman  allegiance; 
and  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  they  were 
divorced  from  it  against  their  will.'" 

These  statements  and  others  of  a  similar 
nature  touching  on  the  Bible,  the  Pope,  and 
the   general   religious   condition   of   the   times 


76  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

evoke  the  following  comment  from  the  Sacred 
Heart  Review.  "The  chief  points  of  attack 
on  the  Catholic  Church  in  England  have  been 
abandoned  under  the  leadership  of  one  of 
our  sanest  Protestant  scholars.  At  any  rate 
no  'decent  writer'  in  the  words  of  the  Athe- 
nceum,  will  now  repeat  the  slanders  against 
the  monks,  or  claim  that  the  Bible  was  given 
to  England  by  Wycliffe  or  Tyndale,  or  deny 
that  the  Pope  fostered  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  or  that  he  was  revered  by  England  as 
the  Vicar  of  Christ." 


CHAPTER  Xn 

HOW   SO   MANY   ARE   INDIFFERENT 

T  may  be  asked  why,  if  religion  is  divine 
and  so  important  to  man,  some  are  indif- 
ferent to  it.  We  have  seen  that  God  has 
done  His  part.  But  religion  is  a  bond  between 
God  and  man.  It  requires  man's  efforts  as 
well  as  God's  goodness.  God  has  been  good 
enough  to  come  on  earth  and  establish  His 
Church  for  all.  He  invites,  pleads,  commands 
all  to  enter.  But  He  allows  every  man  liberty. 
God  forces  no  one  to  serve  Him.  If  men  choose 
to  be  indifferent  to  His  commands,  which  are 
for  their  own  good,  He,  because  He  has 
created  them  free,  will  leave  them  to  their 
own  wilfulness. 

But  where  one's  everlasting  welfare  is  con- 
cerned, why  should  anyone  be  indifferent  .^^ 
I  may  ask  why  are  so  many  people  indifferent 

77 


78  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

to  their  health,  which  is  essential  for  real  living. 
The  drunkard,  the  libertine,  the  drug  fiend, 
all  perceive  that  they  are  ruining  their  health, 
yet  they  keep  on.  And  why?  Because  they 
satisfy  themselves  in  one  way  or  another  for 
the  time  being. 

So  those  who  are  indifferent  to  religion  are 
so  because  they  have  regard  only  to  what  con- 
cerns their  present  indulgence.  Anything  that 
does  not  promise  gain  or  pleasure  they  care 
not  for.  But  you  say  that  such  an  attitude 
is  unreasonable.  So  it  is.  Scripture  says: 
"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  there  is  no 
God."  It  is  only  the  fool  who  so  acts.  And 
no  matter  what  ability  or  success  a  man  has, 
if  he  be  without  concern  for  his  soul,  for  re- 
ligion, for  eternity,  he  is  a  fool.  God  says: 
"What  doth  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  soul.^^"  In  the  face  of  that 
divine  declaration  we  should  pity  those  who 
are  indifferent,  and  pray  for  them. 

There  are,  unfortunately,  men  and  women 
who   give  more   thought  to  the  next  season's 


HOW  SO  MANY  ARE  INDIFFERENT  79 

styles  than  they  do  to  the  next  world.  But, 
without  doing  violence  to  their  free  will,  God 
can  do  no  more  to  bring  them  to  the  right 
way. 

But  the  day  of  realization  will  come  at  last, 
the  day  when  every  human  being  must  stand 
before  God  and  give  an  account  of  his  steward- 
ship. This  life  is  only  a  step,  and  a  short  one, 
in  our  existence.  It  brings  us  to  the  true  life 
of  eternity.  How  careful  we  should  be  to 
take  that  step  rightly! 


CHAPTER  XIII 

RATIONALISM  AND   MATERIALISM 

N  the  world  to-day  there  are  two  specious 
classes  of  men  who  are  opposed  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  to  Christianity.  I  call  them 
specious  because  they  appear  under  the  banner 
of  enlightenment.  They  take  their  stand  as 
thinkers  and  scientists,  and  in  this  form  they 
make  a  strong  appeal  to  persons  who  respect 
reason  above  all  other  endowments.  Reason  is 
our  most  valued  endowment,  and  we  should  hold 
it  in  the  highest  consideration.  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  so  regarded  it. 

No  scientist  or  philosopher  in  all  history 
regarded  reason  as  highly  as  Christ.  No 
philosopher  made  such  a  strong  appeal  to  it 
as  did  He.  He  told  the  Jews  plainly  to  re- 
ject Him  and  His  doctrine  if  He  did  not  give 
them  the  best  of  reasons  for  their  believing  in 

80 


RATIONALISM  81 

Him.  Do  not  believe  me,  He  said,  because  I 
say  a  thing,  but  because  I  substantiate  it.  If 
you  do  not  believe  me,  at  least  believe  the 
works  which  I  do.  You  can  see  and  verify 
them.     They  speak  for  me. 

You  see.  He  gave  an  actual  demonstration 
of  His  proposition  as  a  mathematician  does  in 
a  class-room.  It  is  as  if  a  man  were  to  tell  a 
native  of  South  Africa  that  ether  waves  ex- 
isted and  could  be  controlled  by  human  con- 
trivances so  as  to  send  a  message  around  the 
world.  If  the  hearer  denied  or  doubted,  the 
speaker  would  forthwith  send  a  message  and 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  his  statement. 

So  Jesus  Christ  did.  When  the  Jews  doubted 
His  divinity  and  His  mission.  He  said  to  them: 
I  declare  myself  the  true  Son  of  God,  the 
Messias.  You  hesitate  to  believe  me.  In- 
deed I  know  how  wonderful  my  claims  are,  I 
realize  your  difficulty,  I  know  how  you  regard 
the  Almighty,  and  for  this  reason  I  am  pre- 
pared to  meet  your  difficulties.  To  demon- 
strate my  statements,  I  consequently  manifest 


82  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

the  power  which  only  God  can  exercise.  Be- 
lieve my  works,  they  give  testimony  of  me.  Be- 
fore your  eyes  you  see  men  who  were  born 
blind  now  seeing  as  well  as  yourselves,  you 
behold  the  leper  cleansed,  the  cripple  made 
whole,  yea,  there  walk  among  you  men  who 
were  dead  and  whom  you  were  carrying  out 
to  burial  and  whom  I  by  a  word  called  back 
to  life.     These  my  works  give  testimony  of  me. 

Is  there  any  scientist  or  philosopher  in  the 
world  who  could  show  greater  respect  for 
reason  than  Jesus  Christ!  But  once  He  gives 
His  credentials.  He  speaks  with  authority. 
To  hsten  to  and  believe  one  who  is  divine  is 
not  the  surrendering  of  reason,  but  its  most 
noble  exercise. 

See  how  learned  men  listen  to  Edison  and 
Marconi  and  accept  wonderful  things  from 
them  merely  on  their  word  for  it.  Do  people 
consider  that  as  unreasonable?  Not  at  all. 
Yet  a  greater  one  than  Edison,  a  millionfold 
greater,  speaks,  and  rationalists  say  that  it  is 
unreasonable  to   believe  Him.     Scientists   do 


RATIONALISM  83 

not  regulate  our  morals,  Christ  does;  that  is 
the  difference. 

In  our  chapters  on  the  spirituality  and  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  we  showed  how  unten- 
able is  the  position  of  materialists.  We  shall 
now  proceed  to  demonstrate  that  the  ration- 
alists, the  worshippers  of  human  reason,  form 
but  a  specious  cult,  their  mind  and  reason 
being  swayed  not  by  evidence,  but  by  passion, 
in  one  form  or  another.  Their  principle  is  to 
submit  everything  to  reason,  and  to  reject 
whatever  they  do  not  understand.  As  they 
are  unable  to  comprehend  some  of  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  Christ,  they  refuse  to  accept  His 
religion. 

It  is  true  that,  as  rational  beings,  we  should 
submit  things  to  investigation  and  refuse 
to  admit  them  if  they  are  against  reason.  God 
gave  us  our  intellects  for  that  very  purpose. 
But  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  un- 
doubtedly above  our  comprehension,  above 
our  reason,  is  not  opposed  to  reason.  We  do 
not  accept  it  because  we  understand  it,  but 


84  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

because  we  know  that  He  who  declares  it  can' 
not  proclaim  anything  but  the  truth. 

The  most  intelligent  people  act  in  a  like 
manner  every  day.  After  they  make  sure  by 
reasonable  inquiry  that  a  person  is  competent 
and  trustworthy,  they  accept  from  him  many 
things  that  they  do  not  understand.  It  is  thus 
we  act  with  physicians,  chemists,  electricians, 
engineers,  etc.  But,  you  will  say,  if  we  do 
not  understand,  we  know  that  those  we  trust 
understand,  and  we  could,  also,  if  we  applied 
our  minds  to  the  matter.  Very  true.  What 
I  wish  to  emphasize  is  that  in  point  of  fact 
we  take  many  vital  things  on  the  word  of  an- 
other in  whom  we  trust,  simply  because  of  our 
confidence  in  his  integrity  and  knowledge. 

Now  I  ask  you  if  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  divine 
truth,  is  not  worthy  of  our  trust.?  Can  we 
doubt  His  integrity  or  knowledge.?  Is  it  not, 
then,  the  highest  use  of  our  reason  to  conclude 
that  He  who  gave  it  to  us  can  be  trusted 
absolutely? 

Reason  all  you  wish  about  the  divinity  of 


RATIONALISM  85 

Christ,  but  once  that  is  admitted  it  is  most 
reasonable  to  beheve  every  word  He  utters. 
If  He,  out  of  His  goodness  or  to  give  us  the 
opportunity  of  exercising  faith  in  Him,  reveals 
things  to  us  that  our  reason  never  could  ex- 
cogitate, it  is  our  loving  duty  to  accept  the 
revelation.  If  what  He  reveals  mystifies  us, 
it  is  only  what  we  should  expect  when  we 
contemplate  divinity. 

See  how  many  natural  things  mystify  us. 
Who  can  understand  the  law  of  gravitation? 
Who  knows  the  nature  of  electricity.'*  An 
ordinary  student  knows  how  to  produce  elec- 
tricity and  can  utilize  it,  but  all  the  scientists 
together  cannot  tell  us  what  electricity  is. 
The  greatest  minds  among  them  have  exer- 
cised their  ingenuity  for  years,  but  all  they 
can  do  is  to  theorize;  they  have  nothing  cer- 
tain to  tell  us  of  its  nature. 

And  if  we  cannot  understand  nature,  should 
we  be  amazed  that  we  do  not  understand 
nature's  God?  Do  rationalists  reject  gravita- 
tion and  electricity,  etc.,  because  they  cannot 


86  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

understand  their  nature?  "Why,  then,  should 
they  reject  the  rehgion  of  Jesus  Christ  be- 
cause they  cannot  understand  its  sublime 
truths?  If  the  religion  of  Christ  did  not  re- 
quire man  to  shape  his  hfe  by  it,  no  one 
would  reject  it. 

Take  the  matter  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  example. 

Those  opposed  to  the  Christian  religion,  if  they 

are  logical  and  consistent,  are  obliged  to  admit 

that  if  He  is  God  what  He  says  is  true.     How, 

then,  do  they  avoid  it?     They  either  deny  that 

He  is  God,  or  affirm  that  He  did  not  mean  just 

what  He  said.     In  carrying  out  their  purpose, 

they  act  differently  in  His  case  from  what  they 

do  in  any  other.     In  any  court  of  law,  if  a 

man's  character  is  proved  upright  and  his  mind 

is  sound,  he  is  believed.     All  the  world  agrees 

that  Christ's  character  is  the  most  perfect  in 

the  history  of  the  human  race,  and  that  His 

mind  is  the  loftiest  and  sanest  of  which  we  have 

record.     "Why,    then,  is  He  not   accorded  the 

same  rational  acceptance  that  is  given  others? 

They  call   themselves  rationalists,  when  in 


RATIONALISM  87 

the  very  exercise  of  reason  they  act  unreason- 
ably. Yet  they  regard  with  pity  the  poor  behev- 
ers!  There  would  be  no  rationalism  if  Christ 
did  not  demand  along  with  belief  also  practice. 

In  conclusion,  I  should  like  a  rationalist  to 
consider  the  following  points.  It  is  histori- 
cally certain  that  Jesus  Christ  changed  the 
face  of  the  earth.  He  found  the  great  Roman 
Empire  pagan;  He  made  it  Christian.  This 
was  accomplished  by  means  which  were, 
humanly  considered,  absolutely  inadequate. 
Christ  was  poor,  His  apostles  were  poor,  His 
followers  were  poor.  He  had  no  army,  no 
influential  associates,  no  prestige,  no  human 
inducements.  On  the  other  hand.  His  religion 
was  opposed  to  all  that  flatters  human  nature. 
It  inculcated  the  loftiest  virtue,  the  sternest 
morality,  and  demanded  the  greatest  self- 
sacrifice.  For  three  hundred  years  imprison- 
ment, exile,  and  death  threatened  the  recruit 
to  Christianity,  yet  it  spread  rapidly  over  the 
then  known  world. 

How  such  a  religion  ever  got  a  foothold  in 


88  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

the  world  is  as  great  a  mystery  as  the  Trinity. 
If  you  are  looking  for  miracles,  there  is  one. 
Well  could  St.  Augustine  exclaim:  "The  estab- 
lishment of  the  Catholic  Church  without  mira- 
cles is  a  greater  miracle  than  any  recorded 
in  Scripture.  But  if  in  its  establishment 
there  were  miracles,  you  must  acknowledge 
its  divinity."  Hence,  with  or  without  mir- 
acles, the  Catholic  Church  stands  forth  a 
divine  creation. 

The  Catholic  Church,  then,  is  divine.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  Catholics  love  it  and  live 
for  it  and,  if  need  be,  die  for  it?  We  know 
what  we  have;  we  do  not  merely  opine.  And 
realizing  that  our  Church  is  divine,  we  listen 
to  her  as  to  Christ.  If  in  the  course  of  her 
history  she  has  had  human  failings,  we  know 
that  although  she  is  divine,  she  is  also  human, 
and  that  Christ  prepared  us  for  scandals.  But, 
above  all,  we  know  that,  weak  though  she  may 
be  in  her  human  element,  she  is  supported  by 
God  Himself  and  guaranteed  by  Him  to  be  a 
messenger  of  Truth  always. 


RATIONALISM  89 

Her  frailties  make  her  sympathize  with  her 
children,  and  also  give  God  an  opportunity 
of  showing  that  by  the  weak  things  of  this 
world  He  confounds  the  strong.  The  weaker 
she  is  in  herself,  the  more  divine  she  proves 
herself  to  be.  For  during  twenty  centuries, 
all  the  power  of  the  world  has  been  employed 
against  her  only  to  leave  her  stronger  after 
each  struggle.  All  the  passions  of  corrupt 
human  nature  have  risen  up  against  her,  only 
to  find  her  ever  championing  virtue  and  tri- 
umphing over  evil. 

This  spectacle  in  the  world  is  indeed  a 
miracle.  It  is  religion's  reply  to  the  challenge 
of  unbelief.  It  is  reason's  answer  to  ration- 
alists. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ACCUSATIONS  AGAINST   THE   TRUE   CHURCH 


^HERE  are  many  sincere  people  who 
really  believe  that  the  Catholic 
Church  has  a  record  which  dis- 
qualifies her  as  the  true  Church.  They  point 
out  instances  in  history  which  seem  incom- 
patible with  an  organization  that  represents 
Christ.     This  is  worth  looking  into. 

First  of  all,  I  wish  to  say  that  if  the  Catholic 
Church  were  what  she  is  represented  to  be  by 
her  opponents,  we  Catholics  would  be  as  eager 
as  they  to  destroy  her.  If  the  Catholic  Church 
is  a  hundredth  part  as  bad  as  she  is  pictured 
by  her  enemies,  she  cannot  be  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

I  am  far  from  holding  that  there  were  no 
abuses  in  the  Church.  But  they  were  the 
abuses  which  more  or  less  had  been  attached 

90 


ACCUSATIONS  91 

to  her  from  the  beginning,  and  which  Christ 
foretold. 

Christ  guaranteed  His  Church  against  error, 
not  against  scandal.  His  own  little  Church 
of  twelve  had  abuses,  for  Peter  denied  Him 
and  Judas  was  a  thief  and  a  suicide.  But 
apart  from  the  abuses  of  human  weakness, 
which  have  always  characterized  the  Church, 
her  Reformation  enemies  accused  her  of  crimes 
and  teachings  which  were  absolutely  without 
foundation. 

Well,  what  about  history,  you  say,  can  we 
not  trust  history,  and  does  not  history  point 
out  manifold  abuses  and  evils  in  the  Church 
of  Rome.'*  To  this  let  me  say  that  many  a 
scholar  who  consulted  history  in  order  to  sub- 
stantiate charges  against  the  Catholic  Church 
has  ended  by  becoming  a  Catholic  himself. 
Can  we  not  trust  history  .^^  Yes,  history  that 
is  really  history,  but  you  cannot  trust  the 
history  of  an  adversary.  Suppose  in  this  great 
world  war  which  is  now  waging  you  read  only 
what  one  side    has   to   say,   what  would  you 


92  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

think  about  the  other?  There  are  milHons  of 
people  who  have  never  got  a  bit  of  informa- 
tion about  the  CathoKc  Church  except  from 
hostile  sources. 

History  is  now  being  rewritten.  Scholars 
who  go  deeply  into  the  matter  are  unanimous 
in  their  verdict  that  the  Catholic  Church  has 
been  consistently  maligned  during  the  past 
four  centuries.  This  is  so  evident  that  a  num- 
ber of  distinguished  writers  have  declared  that 
history  has  been  distorted  in  order  to  uphold 
the  sects  opposed  to  the  Catholic  Church. 
I  cite  in  proof  of  this  statement  one  notable 
name,  Dr.  James  Gairdner,  the  foremost  author- 
ity to-day  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  Refor- 
mation period  in  England. 

Dr.  Gairdner,  who  is  not  a  Catholic,  had 
access  to  all  the  state  papers  and  documents 
bearing  on  the  Reformation  and  afterwards, 
and  he  shows  conclusively  that  the  facts  were 
altogether  misrepresented  and  even  falsified. 
Here  is  a  man  who  had  unusual  opportunities 
for  research:  he  was  not  a  Catholic,  he  was 


ACCUSATIONS  93 

under  the  prevailing  English  prejudice  against 
the  Catholic  Church,  yet  the  results  of  his 
scientific  investigations  make  it  evident  that 
history  was  perverted  to  defame  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  to  aid  the  cause  of  the  Reformation. 

John  Henry  Newman  says  the  same  thing. 
His  testimony  should  count,  for  he  was  a 
Protestant  of  Protestants.  For  years  he  op- 
posed the  Church  of  Rome.  In  studying 
history  to  get  facts  to  justify  his  position,  his 
eyes  were  opened.  He  saw  a  great  light  and 
had  the  courage  to  follow  it,  even  though  it 
led  him  into  the  Church  he  opposed,  and  of 
which  he  afterwards  became  the  great  cham- 
pion. 

Can  you  imagine  that  a  man  of  Newman's 
lofty  intellect  and  pure  life  would  embrace 
the  Catholic  Faith  if  it  were  what  people  out- 
side that  Faith  declare  it  to  be!  In  the  chap- 
ter entitled  "How  so  many  are  in  error,"  you 
will  find  further  data  bearing  on  this  point. 

But  were  there  no  abuses  in  the  history  of 
the   Church.''     Many,   very   many,   enough   to 


94  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

wreck  her  if  she  were  not  divine.  Christ  fore- 
told that  there  would  be  scandals  in  the  Church 
and  warned  His  followers  against  them.  Our 
Lord  did  not  guarantee  His  Church  against 
evil  members,  but  against  false  doctrine.  He 
plainly  states  that  the  wheat  and  cockle  will 
grow  together  until  the  harvest.  He  estab- 
lished His  Church  for  sinners.  That  is  what  the 
sacraments  are  for,  —  to  reclaim  the  sinner  and 
to  sanctify  the  just.  His  mission  on  earth  was 
among  sinners, — witness  Magdalene,  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  the  penitent  thief.  Even  among 
the  chosen  twelve  there  was  a  thief  and  traitor. 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  for  the  sinner  as 
well  as  the  saint.  In  the  course  of  ages,  she 
met  the  Goth  and  the  Hun  and  the  Vandal 
and  moulded  them  into  Christians.  In  this 
process  she  had  strenuous  labor.  It  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  if,  in  this  work  of  transforma- 
tion, many  things  happened  which  shock  our 
modern  sensibilities. 

But  you  may  say  that  you  understand  very 
well  that  among  the  flock  there  should  be  some 


ACCUSATIONS  95 

black  sheep,  but  how  about  the  shepherds? 
Were  not  the  very  men  who  constituted  the 
government  of  the  Church  frequently  bad? 
To  this  I  say  that  in  the  history  of  the  world 
there  is  no  body  of  men  that  can  at  all  compare 
with  the  pastors  of  the  Church  for  virtue  and 
learning.  Having  said  this,  I  now  add  that 
it  is  only  too  true  that  here  and  there  at  certain 
periods  there  were  shepherds  unworthy  of  the 
name.  Even  this  Christ  foretold  when  He 
said:  "The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  have  sitten 
upon  the  chair  of  Moses;  all  things  whatsoever 
they  shall  say  to  you,  observe  and  do,  but  ac- 
cording to  their  works,  do  ye  not.'* 

It  is  as  hard  for  a  clergyman  to  be  good  as 
for  a  layman.  Both  are  made  of  the  same 
clay.  Christ  never  said  that  those  in  author- 
ity would  be  saints.  Thank  God,  for  the  most 
part  they  are  good  men,  but  not  because  they 
are  in  high  places,  but  because  they  make  good 
use  of  the  graces  given  them.  But  if  they 
neglect,  they  will  fall  just  as  an  ordinary 
person.     This  does  not  affect  the  Church,  how- 


96  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

ever,  but  only  themselves.  In  a  certain  way 
it  affects  the  Church,  by  reason  of  the  bad 
example  they  give,  but  no  Catholic  thinks  any 
the  less  of  his  Church  because  one  of  its  min- 
isters is  recreant. 

God  can  and  does  use  even  a  bad  man  to 
do  His  work.  David  was  guilty  of  murder  and 
adultery.  Solomon  fell  into  idolatry  and  lust. 
Yet  both  were  the  anointed  leaders  of  God's 
people. 

The  United  States  appoints  judges  to  repre- 
sent her  in  the  various  federal  districts.  An 
individual  may  be  a  very  bad  man,  yet  a  good 
judge,  whose  decisions  are  always  respected. 
So  in  the  Church,  those  in  authority  may 
occasionally  slip,  some  may  be  utterly  un- 
worthy of  their  place,  yet,  as  ministers  of  re- 
ligion, they  have  God's  power  back  of  them. 
Above  all  there  is  one  who,  no  matter  what  he 
be,  has  the  guarantee  of  Christ  that  he  will 
never  teach  false  doctrine  as  head  of  the  Church 
and  that  is  Peter  and  his  successors,  the  popes. 

It  is  as  hard  for  a  Catholic  to  be  good  as  it 


ACCUSATIONS  97 

is  for  anyone  else.  We  are  all  human.  There 
is  a  great  difference  between  knowing  what  is 
right  and  doing  it.  St.  Paul  exclaimed  that 
while  he  was  preaching  to  others  he  feared  he 
himself  might  become  a  castaway.  WTien 
Christ  Himself  was  on  earth,  He  had  frequently 
to  upbraid  His  followers  for  their  delinquencies. 
He  even  said  on  one  occasion:  "Have  I  not 
chosen  you,"  speaking  to  His  apostles,  "yet 
one  of  you  is  a  devil." 

It  is  related  of  St.  Augustine  that  one  of 
his  monks,  having  left  the  monastery  and  gone 
to  the  neighboring  city,  gave  great  scandal 
there.  The  people  were  infuriated  and  went 
in  a  body  to  destroy  the  monastery.  Augus- 
tine met  them  and  said:  "You  are  astonished 
that  one  of  my  monks  has  betrayed  his  call- 
ing and  given  scandal.  Why  should  you  be 
amazed  and  incensed  because  one  out  of  my 
three  hundred  has  gone  wrong  when  one  out 
of  our  Lord's  twelve  was  bad.^^"  This  remark 
brought  them  to  their  senses,  and  they  re- 
turned to  the  city  forthwith. 


98  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

The  Catholic  Church  is  made  up  of  human 
beings  and  they  are  not  forced  to  be  good. 
What  is  right  is  always  held  up  to  them  and 
they  have  every  encouragement  to  do  it,  but 
they  are  free.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  if  all 
Catholics  lived  up  to  their  religion,  the  world 
could  not  hold  out  against  conversion.  But 
it  is  not  easy  to  be  a  good  Catholic.  It  calls 
for  the  restraint  of  passion  and  the  exercise  of 
virtue.  Individual  Catholics  under  strong 
temptation  have  fallen. 

Lust,  ambition,  power,  wealth,  have  led 
many  astray.  But  they  all  knew  they  were 
doing  wrong,  they  knew  they  were  going 
against  the  Church's  teaching,  they  never  at- 
tempted to  justify  wrongdoing.  There  have 
been,  even  among  high  churchmen,  men  of  evil 
lives,  but  the  Church  never  condoned  them. 
The  Catholic  Church  never  connived  at  sin. 
It  never  allowed  that  wrong  was  right.  Al- 
ways it  stood  forth  protesting  when  it  could 
not  prevent  evil. 

In  England  the  Church  could  have  continued 


ACCUSATIONS  99 

in  full  authority  if  she  had  been  willing  to  com- 
promise on  the  sacredness  of  marriage.  But, 
like  John  the  Baptist,  she  said  to  Henry  VIII: 
"It  is  not  lawful."  It  is  well  to  weigh  this 
fact,  that  those  who  set  out  to  reform  the 
Church  of  Rome  introduced  divorce  into 
Christianity.  While  the  Catholic  Church  lost 
the  realm  of  England  for  upholding  God's  law 
of  marriage,  the  reformers  in  Germany  granted 
a  violation  of  that  law  to  gain  over  to  their 
forces  a  small  principahty.  This  is  a  fact  that 
talks  more  than  pages  and  volumes  of  state- 
ment. 

History  may  be  distorted,  but  facts  are 
stubborn  things,  and  this  one  is  an  indica- 
tion that  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  voice  of 
Christ  in  the  world.  No  merely  human  or- 
ganization would  stem  so  powerful  a  current 
as  the  lust  and  power  of  Henry  VIII  forced 
against  the  Catholic  Church.  She  never 
winked  at  sin.  Always  her  voice  rang  out  in 
protest  no  matter  who  the  culprit  might  be. 

Until  the  sixteenth  century,   there  was  no 


100  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

such  thing  among  Christians  as  divorce.  To- 
day, the  CathoHc  Church  alone  stands  out 
against  it.  Before  the  sixteenth  century,  there 
was  no  race  suicide  among  Christians.  To-day, 
the  CathoHc  Church  alone  stands  uncompro- 
misingly against  it.  Now  these  things  are 
indications.  They  are  before  our  eyes.  We 
can  see  them  for  ourselves.  They  furnish  a 
key  to  history. 

If  the  Church  to-day,  in  spite  of  the  evil  lives 
of  some  of  her  members,  stands  out  like  Christ 
saying  "Thou  shalt  not,"  does  it  not  show  us 
her  character.?  If  to-day  she  stands  for  what 
is  right  in  what  concerns  the  dominant  passion 
of  mankind,  is  it  not  an  index  of  her  sanctity 
throughout  the  ages? 

If  this  were  a  longer  treatise,  I  could  take  up 
various  matters,  one  by  one,  and  show  how,  from 
the  beginning,  the  Catholic  Church  held  up 
the  highest  standards.  When,  therefore,  we 
meet  with  things  in  history  which  seem  in- 
compatible with  a  divine  Church,  how  are  we 
to  regard  them?     In  every  instance  they  are 


ACCUSATIONS  101 

the  result  not  of  the  teaching  of  the  Church, 
but  of  the  violation  of  her  teaching.  They 
show  the  passion  and  weakness  of  individuals, 
not  the  doctrine  of  the  Church. 

Benedict  Arnold's  treason  does  not  mean 
that  American  generals  were  mercenary.  It 
is  no  reflection  on  American  patriotism. 
Neither  does  the  evil  life  of  a  distinguished 
churchman  signify  that  the  Church  is  corrupt. 
In  some  of  our  cities,  at  times,  a  corrupt  ring 
gets  control,  but  that  does  not  mean  that 
government  by  the  people  must  be  abolished. 

But  why,  you  may  say,  was  not  the  Church, 
if  divine,  able  to  prevent  her  adherents  from 
evil  deeds.  The  wonder  is  that  she  prevented 
as  much  as  she  did.  To-day  the  Catholic 
Church  is  the  only  organization  on  earth  that 
prevents  divorce.  She  alone  takes  a  stand 
against  and  stops  race  suicide.  In  our  own 
country,  where  the  Sunday  service  is  fast  dis- 
appearing, she  alone  makes  it  obligatory  on 
her  members  to  worship  God  on  Sunday  by 
attendance  at  public  service.     Do  not  these 


102  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

facts  speak  for  themselves?  Do  they  not  give 
you  a  clue  in  reading  history,  and  should  they 
not  make  you  suspicious  of  the  charges  made 
against  her? 

As  a  present-day  instance,  to  confirm  what  I 
have  been  stating,  let  us  consider  an  oft- 
repeated  charge  against  the  Church.  There  is 
a  cry  periodically  raised  in  certain  quarters  that 
loyalty  to  Rome  means  disloyalty  to  one's  own 
country.  If  you  read  history,  so-called,  you 
will  find  charges  made  against  Catholics  that 
they  are  not  and  cannot  be  patriotic.  Now 
I  shall  name  one  instance  which  is  at  present 
before  us  all  and  which  knocks  to  pieces  this 
and  similar  accusations. 

What  nation  to-day  in  all  the  world  is  hailed 
as  the  most  patriotic?  Belgium.  What  in- 
dividual stands  out  as  the  most  patriotic 
figure  in  this  great  World  War?  Cardinal 
Mercier.  Belgium  is  a  Catholic  country. 
Cardinal  Mercier  is  a  Catholic  prelate.  To  a 
man  who  reflects,  this  is  conclusive. 

A   Catholic   would   be   just   as   desirous   of 


ACCUSATIONS  103 

doing  away  with  his  Church  as  her  opponents 
are  if  she  were  not  divine.  We  have  examined 
every  hne  of  history,  and  if  there  were  one 
instance  in  which  the  Church  upheld  wrong, 
we  would  renounce  her.  What  do  we  get  by 
being  loyal  to  her.?  Nothing,  here  below. 
But  when  we  know  that  Christ  established 
a  Church  and  guaranteed  it  against  false 
teaching,  we  realize  that  she  is  the  safe  guide 
to  eternal  life. 

In  being  faithful  to  her,  we  know  that  we 
are  doing  what  God  wants  us  to  do.  And  if 
He  wants  us  to  do  a  thing,  it  does  not  matter 
what  our  likes  or  dislikes  may  be,  our  duty  is 
plain.  Having  God's  guarantee  that  His 
Church  is  our  sure  guide  to  a  blessed  immor- 
tality, that  she  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of 
truth,  we  read  history  in  the  light  of  that 
guarantee.  Unless  that  guarantee  holds,  all 
Christianity  falls;  it  is  an  imposition.  But 
God's  word  holds. 


CHAPTER  XV 

ATTITUDE   OF   THE   TRUE   BELIEVER 


^  II  ^HE  inquirer  into  religion  is  urged 
to  use  all  the  reason  God  has  given 

'*-*'  him  to  make  sure  that  Christ  is  God 
and  that  He  has  established  a  divine  Church. 
Also  he  is  encouraged  to  use  his  reason  to 
make  certain  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  the 
one  Church  established  by  Christ.  Once  hav- 
ing settled  that,  it  is  in  perfect  accord  with 
reason  to  accept  without  questioning  all  that 
this  divine  Church  teaches. 

It  is  no  slavery  of  intellect  to  bow  down 
before  divine  truth.  In  traversing  an  unknown 
and  dangerous  country,  a  man  shows  wisdom 
in  submitting  to  an  accredited  guide.  Suppose 
someone  should  deride  him  for  trusting  in  his 
guide.  He  would  reply  that  such  trust  showed 
common  sense. 

104 


ATTITUDE  OF  TRUE  BELIEVER  105 

So  God  has  given  us  His  Church  to  guide  us 
safely  by  the  pitfalls  of  life,  and  in  trusting 
her  we  show,  not  feebleness,  but  intelligence. 
Our  attitude  to  the  Church  should  therefore 
be  like  that  of  St.  Paul,  who  exclaimed  when 
Christ  appeared  to  him  on  the  way  to  Damas- 
cus: "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do.'*" 
We  should  go  to  the  Church  as  a  child  to  its 
mother,  with  perfect  trust  and  love.  If  she 
tells  us  what  principles  are  to  guide  us  in  life, 
we  should  receive  them  as  from  God.  If 
she  points  out  the  way  that  leads  to  eternal 
life,  we  should  follow  it.  If  she  tells  us  that 
certain  things  are  dangerous,  we  should  hearken 
to  her.  If  she  gives  us  help  to  strengthen  us 
in  our  soul's  warfare,  we  should  welcome 
them. 

In  a  word,  we  should  hear  her  words  and 
follow  her  guidance  as  we  would  those  of 
God  Himself.  In  doing  this  we  are  merely 
carrying  out  Christ's  injunction,  for  He  said 
of  His  Church:  "He  who  hears  you,  hears 
me."     If   our   Lord's   words   mean   anything, 


106  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

they  mean  just  that.  That  is  why  St.  Paul 
called  the  clergy  the  ambassadors  of  Christ. 
When  they  declare  the  authoritative  teaching 
of  the  Church,  they  announce  the  truth  of 
God. 

This  constitutes  the  great  comfort  and 
security  of  Catholics.  They  know;  they  do 
not  conjecture.  They  have  certitude,  not 
probability.  They  are  not  searching  for  the 
light;  they  have  it.  That  is  why  Catholics 
are  so  firm,  so  uncompromising.  Truth  has 
nothing  to  compromise.  We  do  not  com- 
promise on  the  multiplication  table.  The 
truths  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  just  as 
certain,  for  the  Church  is  God  speaking  to 
His  people. 

If  on  reading  thus  far  you  are  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  the  Catholic  Church,  it  remains 
for  you  to  accept  her  doctrine  and  to  live  by  it. 
I  shall  accordingly  put  before  you  briefly 
the  leading  points  of  the  true  religion. 

If  you  are  not  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  I  request  you  to  pray. 


ATTITUDE  OF  TRUE  BELIEVER  107 

Jesus  Christ,  the  Living  Truth  and  the  Light 
of  the  World,  was  rejected  by  some  of  His 
own  people.  It  was  not  because  He  was  not 
the  Truth  or  Light,  but  because,  as  St.  John 
says,  the  Light  shone  in  the  darkness  and  the 
darkness  did  not  comprehend  it.  The  failure 
to  comprehend  was  not  the  fault  of  the  Light. 

Therefore,  pray.  Pray  for  light  to  know  the 
truth  and  strength  to  follow  it.  For  many 
are  afraid  to  know  the  truth  for  fear  of  it. 
It  might  cause  a  change  in  the  manner  of  their 
life  or  in  their  prospects.  So  courage  is  needed 
as  well  as  light.  If  you  do  your  part,  God 
will  do  His. 

In  the  second  part,  which  follows,  there  is  a 
brief  exposition  of  Catholic  teaching  and  an 
inquiry  into  the  different  dogmas.  It  will 
be  found  serviceable  for  prospective  converts, 
and,  it  is  hoped,  will  help  a  busy  priest  in  his 
work  of  instruction,  for  it  explains  nearly  all 
the  things  which  usually  present  difficulties 
to  inquirers. 

It  strikes  me  that  the  point  of  view  which 


108  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

makes  people  formulate  their  own  religion  and 
which  constitutes  it  auto-religion  is  the  domi- 
nant feature  of  the  present  attitude  outside  the 
Church.  In  consequence  they  view  the 
Church  as  narrow,  unprogressive  and  even 
fossilized.  The  mariner's  compass  might  be 
condemned  on  their  view  because  it  always 
points  the  same,  yet  it  is  this  fixedness  which 
gives  it  its  value.  Any  variation  in  the  es- 
tablished nature  of  the  compass  would  not  be 
progress  but  ruin.  A  navigator  is  not  con- 
sidered narrow  because  he  holds  to  the  com- 
pass, neither  is  a  Catholic  narrow  who  holds  to 
the  Church.  The  compass  is  nature's  pro- 
vision for  guiding  the  mariner  over  the  track- 
less water,  the  Church  is  the  provision  of 
nature's  God  for  the  guidance  of  men  over 
the  sea  of  hfe. 

The  Church  loves  nothing  so  much  as  light. 
The  brighter  the  light  and  the  more  it  pene- 
trates her  every  feature  the  more  she  stands 
forth  the  true  bride  of  Christ.  Christ  not 
only  loved  the  light  but  was  the  very  light 


ATTITUDE  OF  TRUE  BELIEVER  109 

itself.  "I  the  light  am  come  into  the  world 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  Me  may  not  re- 
main in  darkness."  And  Isaias  seeing  the 
Church  in  vision  exclaims,  "Thou  shalt  no 
more  have  the  sun  for  thy  light,  but  the  Lord 
shall  be  unto  thee  for  an  everlasting  light  and 
thy  God  for  thy  glory."  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
Church!  The  divine  Bridegroom  and  His 
Bride !  Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven  —  and 
on  earth  Our  Holy  Mother  the  Church! 


PART  TWO 


CHAPTER  I 

WHY   THERE  ARE   MYSTERIES   IN   RELIGION 

"P^EOPLE  often  wonder  what  is  the  use 

of    religious    truths    that    we    cannot 

understand.      What    purpose    does    a 

mystery    serve    in    our    relations    with    God? 

Why  should   there  be  matters   in  our  Faith 

which  are  above  our  comprehension? 

On  a  little  thought  the  reason  for  mysteries 
will  be  plain. 

First  of  all,  they  enable  us  to  make  an  act 
of  faith  in  God.  If  God  gave  us  truths  which 
we  could  reason  out  for  ourselves,  we  should 
not  be  trusting  to  His  truthfulness  but  to  our 
intelligence.  If  you  take  from  God  only  what 
you  can  verify,  you  are  treating  Him  as  you 
do  your  fellow-man.  Indeed,  hardly  as  well, 
for  you  take  many  things  from  your  fellow- 
man    which   you    do   not   and   cannot  verify. 

113 


114  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

It  is  only  one  man  in  a  million  who  under- 
stands matters  of  history,  science,  and  govern- 
ment, yet  all  have  faith  in  these  things.  See 
how  we  trust  our  lives  and  national  honor  to 
the  ruler  of  our  country. 

He  frequently  does  not  and  cannot  give  an 
explanation  of  his  policy.  Facts  which  he 
has  and  which  justify  his  actions  must  be 
kept  secret  for  reasons  of  the  public  wel- 
fare. Yet  we  have  such  confidence  in  his 
intelligence  and  integrity  that  we  trust  him. 
That  is  our  act  of  faith  in  the  government, 
in  a  man.  Should  we  not  trust  to  the 
integrity  and  intelligence  of  the  Ruler  of  the 
world. f^ 

If,  therefore,  God  sees  fit  to  tell  us  something 
which  we  could  never  know  by  our  own  reason, 
why  not  accept  it  as  an  acquisition  to  our 
knowledge  and  be  grateful  for  it?  How  many 
things  the  astronomer  and  chemist  and  his- 
torian tell  us  which  most  of  us  cannot  reason 
out  and  yet  which  we  accept  gladly.  All  life 
may  be  said  to  be  an  act  of  faith  in  one  another. 


MYSTERIES  IN  RELIGION       115 

"Why,  then,  should  we  not  make  an  act  of  faith 
in  God? 

Now  if  there  were  no  mysteries,  we  could 
not  make  an  act  of  faith  in  God.  A  mystery 
is  something  above  reason,  but  not  against 
it.  It  is  something  which,  though  not  imply- 
ing a  contradiction,  is  yet  so  full  of  difficulty 
that  we  have  to  exclaim:  How  can  it  be! 
God  simply  says:   "It  is  so,  trust  me." 

There  are  mysteries  in  our  own  lives,  mys- 
teries in  the  world  about  us.  If  you  told  any- 
one before  Columbus'  time  that  there  were 
people  on  the  other  side  of  the  world,  they 
would  say:  "Impossible!  How  can  it  be! 
They  would  fall  off,  they  would  be  head 
downwards!"  If  the  law  of  gravitation  solves 
the  difficulty,  why  may  not  God,  in  His  own 
time,  solve  all  the  mysteries  .^^  One  of  the 
joys  of  heaven  will  be  that  we  shall  under- 
stand everything. 

I  cannot  say  it  too  often,  —  God  does  not 
want  us  to  understand  Him,  but  to  trust  Him. 
If  He  sees  fit  to  reveal  to  us  certain  things 


116  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

about  Himself  which  we  could  never  of  our- 
selves learn,  why  not  thank  Him?  Should 
we  not  expect  God  to  be  a  mysterious  Being? 
Nature  is  mysterious,  why  should  not  nature's 
God  be  so? 

If,  then,  there  are  revelations  about  the 
mysterious  God,  they  must  be  in  the  nature 
of  mysteries.  A  man  is  a  mystery  to  himself. 
He  does  not  know  how  his  mind  commands 
his  body,  nor  how  he  remembers  things,  nor 
how  things  outside  of  him  are  by  eating  turned 
into  his  own  body.  If  man  is  a  mystery  to 
man  himself,  why  should  not  Almighty  God 
be  a  mystery  to  him? 

In  imparting  to  us,  therefore,  information 
about  Himself,  as  in  the  Trinity  and  Incar- 
nation and  the  Eucharist,  we  should  expect 
mysteries.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  our 
religion  is  called  our  holy  Faith.  It  is  based 
on  faith  in  God.  Its  foundation  is  the  ve- 
racity of  God.  We  know  that  God  is  Truth, 
that  if  He  says  something  it  is  so,  and  accordingly 
we  say:  "Speak,  Lord,  thy  servant  heareth." 


MYSTERIES  IN  RELIGION       117 

Through  the  Church  God  speaks  to  us.  In 
the  following  chapters,  we  shall  see  what  that 
message  is.  Our  duty  is  to  accept  it  grate- 
fully, and,  by  doing  as  directed,  to  merit  one 
day  to  see  face  to  face  the  Infinite  God  in 
whose  light  we  shall  be  enlightened  and  in 
whose  presence  we  shall  rejoice  forevermore. 
"Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  hath 
it  entered  into  the  mind  of  man  to  conceive 
the  things  that  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   TRINITY 

"^HE  Trinity  is  a  wonderful  mystery 
No  one  understands  it.  The  most 
learned  theologian,  the  holiest  Pope, 
the  greatest  saint,  all  are  as  mystified  by  it 
as  the  child  of  seven.  It  is  one  of  the  things 
which  we  shall  know  only  when  we  see  God 
face  to  face.  If  God  saw  fit  to  reveal  His 
nature  to  us  without  explaining  it,  that  is  His 
condescension.  Anything  we  may  know  about 
the  marvellous  Creator  is  a  favor.  Of  course 
from  the  universe  we  gain  a  certain  knowledge 
of  Him.  We  know  He  is  infinitely  Wise  and 
Powerful.  But  about  His  person  we  can 
know  nothing  of  ourselves. 

Now,  in  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  He 
tells  us  something  about  His  personality.  He 
says    it    is    three-fold.     Mark,    He    does    not 

118 


'  THE  TRINITY  119 

say  that  there  are  three  Gods  in  one  God,  nor 
three  Persons  in  one  Person.  That  would 
be  a  contradiction,  and  our  reason  tells  us 
that  contradictions  are  not  true.  God  would 
not  tell  us  something  which  the  reason  He 
gave  us  should  be  obliged  to  reject. 

What,  then,  does  He  say  in  the  revelation  of 
the  Trinity.?  He  informs  us  that  in  the  one 
Being,  God,  there  are  three  Persons.  He  calls 
these  three  Persons  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost.  Not  till  we  get  to  heaven  shall  we 
know  any  more  than  that.  If  we  reason  from 
now  to  doomsday,  we  shall  not  get  any  nearer 
to  an  explanation,  and  simply  because  God  said 
that  much  and  no  more. 

Theologians  have  written  thousands  of  vol- 
umes in  analyzing  and  inquiring  into  the 
matter,  but  merely  as  speculation,  just  as 
we  speculate  about  planetary  motion  and  the 
number  of  the  stars  and  the  spots  on  the 
moon.  Only  there  is  some  chance  of  learning 
something  about  these  things,  none  of  learning 
anything  further  about  the  Trinity. 


120  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Jesus  Christ  said:  "The  Father  and  I  are 
one."  One  what?  Not  one  person,  surely, 
for  two  persons  cannot  be  one  person.  A 
man  can  say  Smith  and  I  are  one.  One  what.^^ 
Perhaps  one  corporation,  one  team,  one  race, 
one  pair.  Of  course  it  is  not  in  the  same  sense 
that  Christ  spoke.  I  merely  endeavor  to 
show  by  comparison  that  there  is  no  contra- 
diction  in   the   statement. 

When  Jesus  sent  His  apostles  forth  to  con- 
vert the  world,  He  commanded  them  to  baptize 
in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Mark,  He  does  not  say 
in  the  names,  but  in  the  name,  —  one.  At  the 
baptism  of  Jesus,  a  voice  from  heaven  pro- 
claimed: "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye 
Him."  Christ  on  the  cross  said:  "Father, 
forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
Here  is  the  relation  of  Father  and  Son,  and 
each  is  God.  Yet  there  is  but  one  God. 
"Hearken,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  thy  God  is  one 
only.  There  is  no  other  God  beside  me." 
(Deut.  XXX.  39.) 


THE  TRINITY  121 

That  Jesus  is  the  true  Son  of  God,  and,  con- 
sequently, God  like  the  Father,  is  evident 
from  Scripture:  "No  man  hath  seen  God 
at  any  time:  the  Only  Begotten  Son,  who 
is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  hath  declared 
Him."  (John  i.  18.)  Jesus  is  proclaimed  the 
Only  Begotten  Son  of  God.  Therefore  His  is 
a  true  divine  nature.  He  is  true  God.  There 
is  therefore  something  about  the  nature  of 
God  by  which  in  one  Godhead  there  can  be 
more  than  one  person.  What  that  is  we  do 
not  know.  And  God  does  not  want  us  to 
know,  —  yet. 

In  the  commission  which  Jesus  gives  to  His 
apostles,  He  names  three  persons  equally: 
Baptize  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  three  con- 
stitute the  Blessed  Trinity,  to  whom  be  honor 
and  glory  forever! 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   INCARNATION 


^HE  Incarnation  and  the  Trinity  are 
the  fundamental  mysteries  of  the 
Cathohc  Faith.  On  these  two  every- 
thing else  rests.  If  there  is  no  Trinity, 
then  there  is  no  redemption  by  the  Second 
Person  of  the  Trinity.  If  there  is  no  Incar- 
nation, there  is  no  atonement  by  Jesus  Christ, 
the  God-man. 

The  word  Incarnation  is  derived  from  the 
two  Latin  words  in  and  caro,  which  mean  in 
the  flesh.  As  applied  to  the  Son  of  God,  they 
signify  His  existence  in  the  flesh,  that  is,  His 
becoming  man.  This  is  a  stupendous  mys- 
tery, as  difficult  of  comprehension  as  the 
Trinity.  How  the  infinite  God  became  finite 
man,  yet  remained  God,  is  something  we  do 
not  imderstand.     It  was  so  difficult  of  appre- 

122 


THE  INCARNATION  123 

hension  for  the  Jews,  who  had  a  true  concep- 
tion of  God,  that  they  could  not  or  would 
not  believe  that  Christ  was  God.  That  was 
their  whole  contention.  Because  He  affirmed 
He  was  God,  they  put  Him  to  death. 

Jesus  realized  their  difficulty  and  met  it 
sympathetically.  He  told  them  that  no  man 
was  a  witness  to  his  own  word,  and  referred 
them  for  proof  of  His  word  to  His  deeds: 
"The  things  which  I  do  give  testimony  of  me." 

And  those  Jews  who  were  not  influenced 
by  passion  recognized  His  testimony.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  w^orld,  said  they,  no 
man  spoke  as  this  man,  and  no  man  ever  did 
the  things  which  he  does.  Thus  spoke  the 
multitudes. 

On  one  occasion,  Jesus  forgave  a  man  his 
sins.  "Who  but  God  can  forgive  sins.?" 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  exclaimed.  Jesus 
accepted  their  challenge.  True,  said  He,  no 
one  but  God  can  forgive  sins,  but  that  you 
may  know  that  I  have  the  power  to  forgive 
sins,  that  I  am  indeed  God,  I  shall  do  some- 


124  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

thing  before  your  eyes  which  only  God  can 
do.  And  straightway  He  said  to  the  cripple, 
who  was  brought  to  Him  on  a  bed:  "Take 
up  thy  bed  and  walk."  And  the  man  arose 
and  walked,  and  all  glorified  God.  This  is 
but  one  of  hundreds  of  things  which  Jesus 
did  to  show  the  people  that  they  could  trust 
Him.  Once  He  established  His  divine  power, 
it  was  their  duty  to  believe  Him. 

And  the  great  body  of  people  did  believe 
in  Him.  But  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who 
saw  that  their  sway  over  the  multitude  would 
cease  with  their  acceptance  of  Jesus  as  the 
Messias,  used  all  their  power  to  discredit 
Him.  A  dreadful  instance  of  this  is  in  regard 
to  their  conduct  after  the  resurrection  of 
Lazarus. 

I  once  said  to  a  distinguished  lawyer  that, 
as  an  example  of  the  bad  faith  of  the  Jewish 
leaders,  their  attempt  to  suppress  evidence  in 
the  case  of  Lazarus  was  convincing  proof.  He 
asked  me  in  just  what  way  they  tried  to  do 
so.     I  informed  him  that  after  the  resurrection 


THE  INCARNATION  125 

of  Lazarus,  which  was  witnessed  by  hundreds, 
among  whom  were  many  distinguished  men 
of  Jerusalem,  the  Jews  called  a  council.  In 
this  council,  they  debated  how  they  could  kill 
Lazarus  so  as  to  destroy  the  proof  of  his 
resurrection.  The  lawyer  exclaimed:  "Why, 
I  never  saw  that  in  Scripture.  If  that  is  so,  it 
is  conclusive,  for  in  law  the  suppression  of 
evidence  is  the  most  flagrant  criminality."  He 
then  asked  me  to  point  out  the  passage  in 
Scripture  which  recorded  the  fact.  I  did  so, 
and  he  said  no  greater  proof  could  exist  of 
malicious  intent  against  Christ.     (John  xii.  10.) 

In  this  connection,  let  me  say  that  the  Jews 
themselves  never  denied  the  miracles  of  Jesus. 
The  Scriptures,  taken  merely  as  profane  his- 
tory, record  the  doings  of  Christ  as  they 
occurred  and  as  they  were  accepted  by  the 
people  generally.  Unless  His  deeds  were  just 
as  recorded  in  the  Bible,  the  Jews  would  have 
protested  against  the  narration  from  the  start. 
They  never  did. 

It  may  be  asked,  why,  then,  did  they  not 


126  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

receive  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Messiah?  The 
reply  is  that  He  did  not  give  them  what 
they  wanted.  They  expected  a  worldly  king- 
dom and  a  mighty  temporal  ruler  who  would 
exalt  their  nation  above  all  others.  But 
Christ  did  not  leave  heaven  and  come  to  this 
earth  to  give  the  fleeting  things  of  this  world 
to  man.  He  came  to  give  eternal  life,  an 
eternal  kingdom.  Hence  He  said:  "My  king- 
dom is  not  of  this  world."  The  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  were  looking  merely  to  the  present. 
Hence  they  rejected  their  greatest  good,  they 
renounced  Jesus  Christ.  How  many  to-day 
reject  Jesus  because  He  does  not  give  them 
what  they  want  here! 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  REDEMPTION 

"^HE  Redemption,  or  the  Atonement, 
as  it  is  sometimes  called,  signifies 
the  passion  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ  by  which  mankind  was  restored  to  the 
friendship  and  favor  of  God.  The  Redemp- 
tion implies  that  man  had  offended  God,  and 
in  consequence  lost  something.  In  theology 
this  is  called  the  fall  of  man. 

It  may  be  humiliating  for  us  to  acknowl- 
edge it,  but  it  must  nevertheless  be  admitted 
that  there  is  something  wrong  with  human 
nature.  Man  is  a  bundle  of  contradictions, 
a  combination  of  heaven  and  earth.  He  ad- 
mires what  is  noble,  yet  constantly  tends  to 
what  is  degrading.  He  is  master  of  the  rest 
of  creation,  yet  frequently  a  slave  to  his  own 
passions.     He  is  a  strange  mixture  of  great- 

127 


128  GOD   .\XD   :\n'SELF 

ness  and  littleness,  of  good  and  evil.  A  man 
is  often  astonished  at  his  own  meanness,  while 
astonishing  others  by  his  magnanimity.  Often 
he  finds  himself  doing  the  things  he  hates 
and  detests,  again  omitting  what  he  most  aj>- 
proves  of. 

The  world  seems  to  be  out  of  joint,  — 
everywhere  mismiderstandings,  rivalries,  jeal- 
ousies, selfishness,  quarrels.  There  seem  to  be 
two  personalities  warring  within  us.  Steven- 
son has  characterized  this  in  his  Dr.  Jekyll 
and  Mr.  Hyde.  I  am  sure  we  have  often 
seen,  either  in  ourselves  or  others,  the  coun- 
terpart of  that  description. 

Is  it  possible  that  man  so  constituted  is  the 
work  of  God?  Rather,  does  he  not  proclaim 
that  he  is  a  masterpiece  marred.^ 

The  rehgion  of  Jesus  Christ  gives  the  solution 
of  this  enigma  when  it  tells  us  that  man  is 
fallen  from  his  high  estate.  Let  those  who 
ridicule  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  find  a 
substitute  for  the  cause  of  man's  deplorable 
condition.     The  Church  teaches  us  that  bv  the 


THE    REDEMPTION  129 

wilful  transgression  of  our  first  parents  our 
nature  as  endowed  in  them  became  impaired. 
And,  as  a  man  forfeiting  an  inheritance  by 
his  conduct  also  deprives  his  descendants  of 
it,  so  the  loss  of  God's  favor  by  our  first 
parents  entailed  a  loss  on  their  descendants. 
That  loss  of  God"s  grace  is  original  sin. 

Man's  destiny  was  to  Hve  on  for  a  certain 
time  and,  after  pro\Tng  his  loyalty  to  God,  to 
enter  heaven  as  his  home.  God  could  have 
pardoned  sin  outright  if  He  had  wished.  In 
a  thousand  ways  He  could  have  restored  man 
to  his  pristine  condition.  But  He  chose  to 
draw  good  out  of  e\"il,  to  demand  infinite 
justice  and  exhibit  infinite  mercy,  and  to  give 
to  man  the  power  to  attain  an  even  higher 
station  than  was  his  before  the  fall. 

For,  by  the  redemption,  the  Son  of  God 
became  man,  offered  as  God-man  an  infinite 
reparation  for  man's  offence,  showed  infinite 
mercy  by  His  passion  and  death,  and  obtained 
for  men  of  good  will  the  opportunity  to  be- 
come the  children  of  God.     "To  as  many  as 


130  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

received  Him  He  gave  the  power  to  become 
the  children  of  God."  It  was  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  who  taught  us  to  say  to  the  Lord  God 
of  heaven  and  earth:  "Our  Father,  who  art 
in  heaven." 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  MOTHER   OF  GOD 

"^HE  Son  of  God  in  becoming  man  had 
to  have  a  mother.  Mary  was  His 
mother.  The  blood  which  flowed 
in  His  veins  and  which  He  shed  on  Calvary 
was  derived  from  her.  It  was  she  who  held 
Him  to  her  breast  as  a  child  and  cared  for 
Him  as  a  boJ^  Of  all  human  beings,  she  was 
the  closest  to  Him  in  birth,  in  life,  and  in  death. 
Of  the  millions  and  millions  of  women  since 
creation,  she  was  chosen  as  His  mother.  Jesus 
Christ,  who  was  born  of  her,  was  both  God 
and  man.  As  God  He  had  no  beginning,  no 
birth.  As  man  He  was  born  at  a  certain  time 
and  place.  Since  His  divinity  and  humanity 
were  united  in  the  one  person,  Jesus  Christ, 
and  since  we  cannot  separate  the  divinity  from 
Jesus  Christ,  it  follows  that  the  mother  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  also  the  mother  of  God. 

131 


132  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

Sometimes  non-Catholics  assert  that  we  pay 
too  much  honor  to  Mary.  "Well,  if  we  do,  God 
has  set  us  the  example.  If  you  trust  your 
money  to  a  man,  you  honor  him,  but  if  you 
trust  your  child  to  him,  you  give  him  the  highest 
mark  of  your  regard.  God  chose  Mary  not 
merely  as  the  custodian,  but  as  the  mother  of 
His  Son. 

Moreover,  He  declared  her  singularly 
blessed.  The  Archangel  Gabriel  bore  a  mes- 
sage direct  from  God  to  her,  and,  as  the  am- 
bassador of  heaven,  saluted  her  thus:  "Hail, 
full  of  grace,  the  Lord  is  with  thee,  blessed 
art  thou  among  women."  This  angelic  mes- 
senger bows  down  before  a  maiden.  Never 
before  had  an  angel  thus  shown  obeisance  to 
a  mortal.  He  waits  on  her  word.  In  other 
cases  where  God's  messengers  appeared  to 
mortals,  it  was  to  command,  but  not  so  in 
regard  to  Mary.  He  salutes  her,  praises  her, 
delivers  his  message  and  then  before  pro- 
ceeding awaits  her  decision.  When  she  finally 
gave  her  consent  to  the  mystery,  he  declared 


THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD  133 

that  the  Holy  One  who  was  to  be  born  of  her 
was  to  be  the  Son  of  God. 

The  Church  of  Christ  has  always  revered 
Mary  as  the  mother  of  God,  imitating  in  this 
God  Himself,  whose  messenger  Gabriel  declared 
that  the  Holy  One  who  was  to  be  born  of  her 
was  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  But,  though  she 
is  the  mother  of  God,  she  is  not  divine.  She 
is,  like  us,  a  creature.  That  is  why  we  love 
her  so  much,  —  she  is  one  of  us. 

There  is  an  infinite  distance  between  her 
and  God,  but  nevertheless  she  is  closer  to  Him 
than  any  other  created  being.  And  since  we 
know  that  God  honors  those  who  are  dear  to 
Him,  and  since  it  is  His  grace  that  makes  us 
dear  to  Him,  and  since  His  ambassador  Gabriel 
declared  her  to  be  full  of  grace,  we  know  that 
she  is  the  recipient  of  all  the  favor  that  God 
can  bestow  upon  a  creature. 

If  God  told  those  who  besought  His  help 
and  forgiveness  to  go  to  His  friend  Job  to  have 
him  intercede  for  them,  with  much  more  con- 
fidence can  we  go  to  His  mother.     And  we  do. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  HEAD   OF   THE   CHURCH 


^  VERYTHING  has  a  head,  —  the 
"^  family,  the  city,  the  state.  The 
-^=^    bigger   a   thing    and    the    more    wide- 


spread and  diversified  it  is,  the  more  need 
there  is  of  a  head.  The  biggest  thing  in  the 
world  is  the  Catholic  Church,  the  most  wide- 
spread thing  in  the  world  is  the  Catholic  Church, 
the  most  diversified  thing  in  the  world  is  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  Catholic  Church  ha;s 
a  head. 

We  may  judge  of  the  kind  of  head  an 
organization  should  have  by  the  nature  of 
its  activities  and  constitution.  The  Catholic 
Church  is  active  in  every  part  of  the  world, 
among  every  nation  and  race.  The  purpose 
of  its  activities  is  to  continue  among  mankind 
the    work    begun    and    established    by    Jesus 

134 


THE  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH     135 

Christ.  Christ's  commission  to  His  Church 
was:  "As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  so  I  send 
you."  The  Church,  therefore,  is  Christ's  con- 
tinuation in  the  world,  and  the  head  of  the 
Church  is  His  personal  representative.  For 
that  reason,  the  Pope  is  called  the  Vicar  of 
Christ. 

Now  it  is  evident  that  Jesus  Christ,  who  gave 
His  life  to  establish  His  religion,  was  concerned 
about  its  continuance,  and  its  continuance 
as  the  pillar  and  ground  of  truth.  Jesus  was 
the  Light  of  the  World.  His  Church  must 
be  the  same.  Jesus  therefore  took  good  care 
to  guarantee  the  life  and  the  truth  of  His 
Church. 

When  the  framers  of  our  country's  Consti- 
tution finished  their  work,  they  did  not  leave 
it  to  itself,  but  appointed  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  as  its  guardian  and 
interpreter.  As  far  as  was  in  their  power, 
they  made  the  Supreme  Court  infallible.  To 
uphold  its  judgments  the  whole  power  of  the 
government   will   be   employed.     They   there- 


136  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

fore  endowed  it  with  practical  infallibility. 
And  why?  To  insure  the  integrity  and  con- 
tinuance of  the  Constitution.  If  men  employ 
every  means  in  their  power  for  the  perpetuation 
of  their  work,  can  we  imagine  that  God  left 
His  great  work  to  itself  to  drift  along  unguided 
and  unprotected! 

So  even  if  we  did  not  have  His  very  guaran- 
tee that  He  would  be  with  His  Church  and 
safeguard  it,  we  should  know  anyway  that 
He  would  provide  that  His  representative 
among  men  would  represent  Him,  and  not 
misrepresent  Him. 

But  we  have  His  actual  guarantee.  "Thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  pre- 
vail against  it."  "The  spirit  of  truth  will 
abide  with  you  forever."  "Behold  I  am  with 
you  all  days  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
"Going  therefore,  teach  ye  all  nations."  *'I 
will  ask  the  Father  and  He  shall  give  you 
another  Paraclete,  that  He  may  abide  with 
you   forever,    the    Spirit    of    Truth."      These 


THE  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH   137 

guarantees  were  given  to  the  Church  by 
One  who  had  the  power  to  carry  them  into 
effect. 

Now  Peter  is  the  head  of  the  Church.  Peter 
was  made  head  of  the  Church  by  its  founder, 
Christ.  Our  Lord  conferred  this  office  on 
him  after  his  noble  profession  of  faith,  in 
which  he  declared  that  Jesus  was  God:  "Thou 
art  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God."  In 
return,  Christ  declared:  "Thou  art  Peter 
[[Peter  means  a  rock],  and  upon  thee  I  will 
build  my  church.  .  .  .  And  I  will  give 
to  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 

"What  power  to  confer  on  a  man!  The 
Church  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  to 
Peter  were  intrusted  the  keys.  It  is  to  the 
master,  to  the  head  of  an  establishment,  that 
the  keys  are  intrusted.  In  all  languages,  the 
keys  are  the  symbol  of  authority  and  head- 
ship. And  to  show  that  it  was  real  power 
Jesus  was  giving  to  Peter,  He  announced: 
"Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  upon  earth  will 


138  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

be  bound  also  in  heaven."  This  was  personal 
to  Peter,  different  from  the  promises  which 
Christ  made  to  the  apostles  or  the  Church 
at  large.  He  said:  '"Thou  art  the  rock,"  and 
"to  thee  will  I  give  the  keys,"  and  "what- 
soever thou  shalt  bind."  Therefore  Christ 
made  Peter  the  head. 

After  the  resurrection,  Jesus  solemnly  con- 
firmed Peter's  headship  over  the  Church  when 
He  made  him  shepherd  of  the  flock:  "Feed 
my  lambs,  feed  my  sheep."  The  flock  is  the 
body  of  the  faithful,  the  lambs  and  sheep 
represent  the  people  and  pastors.  Over  all 
these,  the  head  is  the  shepherd.  Christ,  the 
Good  Shepherd,  on  ascending  into  heaven, 
constituted  Peter  shepherd  in  His  place.  As 
Christ  was  head,  so  was  Peter,  and  so  is  the 
successor  of  Peter. 

The  head  of  the  Church,  therefore,  is  the 
spokesman  for  this  organization  to  which 
God  guaranteed  that  the  truth  should  abide 
with  it  forever.  In  virtue  of  His  guarantee, 
and  not  for  any  personal  worth  of  the  actual 


THE  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH   139 

head,  God  is  bound  to  see  to  it  that  the  spokes- 
man of  His  Church,  when  speaking  officially, 
should  never  teach  error. 

Christ  said:  "Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  thee 
will  I  build  my  church."  If  the  foundation, 
the  rock,  is  not  secure,  how  will  the  super- 
structure stand  .f^  If  the  head  of  the  body  be 
insecure,  how  will  the  body  itself  be  safe.f*  It 
is  as  easy  for  Christ  to  guarantee  personal  in- 
fallibility to  the  head  as  corporate  infallibility 
to  the  body.  Numbers  do  not  count  as  an 
argument  or  a  guarantee.  The  wisest  and 
most  learned  assemblies  have  erred.  But  he 
whom  God  guarantees  against  error  is  indeed 
safe  from  it. 

The  Pope  personally  may  or  may  not  be  a 
good  man,  but  officially  he  is  God's  vicar,  and 
as  such  he  cannot  mislead  the  flock  intrusted 
to  him.  "Feed  my  lambs,  feed  my  sheep," 
said  Christ  to  the  head  of  His  Church.  As 
God's  shepherd,  the  Pope  has  God's  protection. 
It  is  God's  business  to  see  to  it  that  His  own 
flock,  fed  by  a  shepherd  of  His  own  appoint- 


140  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

ment,  should  receive  the  food  of  truth,  and 
not  the  husks  of  error. 

Hence  our  security  as  Catholics,  once  the 
Pope  has  oflScially  spoken.  We  know  it  is 
God's  voice.  We  feel  like  a  child  who  at  a 
distance  hears  over  the  wire  his  father's  voice. 
The  quality  of  the  instrument  does  not  matter, 
only  the  voice  of  the  father. 

But  it  is  the  glory  of  the  Church  that  her 
head  has  been,  with  a  very  few  exceptions, 
worthy  of  his  high  office.  There  was  a  Judas 
among  the  twelve  under  the  very  eyes  of  the 
Master.  We  should  not  be  surprised  if,  dur- 
ing twenty  centuries,  a  few,  a  very  few,  of  the 
successors  of  Peter  did  not  live  up  to  their 
lofty  station.  But  taking  them  as  a  body, 
it  is  universally  conceded  that  they  are  the 
glory  of  mankind.  No  dynasty  can  point  to 
such  a  noble  line  of  rulers. 

In  our  own  day,  we  can  recall  Pius  IX  and 
Leo  Xin  and  Pius  X.  This  world  has  seldom 
seen  such  a  trio  of  men.  All  through  the 
centuries  the  popes  have  been  the  true  friends 


THE  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH   141 

of  mankind,  but  especially  have  they  held  up 
to  the  world  the  light  of  truth.  They  have 
been  persecuted  and  misrepresented,  as  was 
their  Master.  They  do  not  expect  better 
treatment  than  was  accorded  Him.  And  like 
Him  they  will  triumph  even  if  it  be  by  death. 
A  Pope  dies,  but  the  papacy  lives  on.  God 
has  said  it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   BIBLE 

''^^HERE  is  a  great  deal  of  miscon- 
ception about  the  Bible.  Some 
people  think  that,  in  some  way  or 
other,  it  came  to  us  just  as  it  is  from  heaven. 
Others  think  that  it  was  written  by  God 
Himself.  Again  some  believe  that  it  existed 
previous  to  the  Church  and  that  the  Church 
rests  on  it  as  upon  a  foundation. 

The  Bible  means  a  collection  of  books  or 
volumes.  Far  from  being  the  foundation  of 
the  Church,  it  was  the  Church  that  collected 
these  volumes  together  and  gave  them  to  us 
as  the  Bible.  Why,  then,  you  may  ask,  have 
I  been  quoting  the  Bible  all  along  to  substan- 
tiate the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  Church.'* 
In  so  quoting,  I  was  using  the  Bible  as  an 

142 


THE  BIBLE  143 

authentic  historical  document,  not  as  an 
inspired  record.  There  are  many  historical 
documents  which  are  not  the  Bible.  They 
have  their  value  just  as  any  true  document 
has.  In  that  sense  and  no  other  was  Scripture 
appealed  to  in  our  demonstration. 

But  the  Bible,  as  the  Church  regards  it,  is 
more  than  a  historical  document,  it  is  an  in- 
spired record.  Once  you  admit  it  is  inspired, 
there  is  no  need  of  arguing  about  the  divinity 
of  Christ  or  the  Church,  for  that  is  plainly 
stated  in  the  Bible,  which,  if  inspired,  is  its 
own  proof.  We  showed  from  a  historical  and 
critical  investigation  that  the  Christian  foun- 
dation is  true.  The  Catholic  argument  does 
not  depend  at  all  on  the  Bible  as  an  inspired 
book. 

But  the  Bible  does  depend  upon  the  Church 
for  its  genuineness  as  an  inspired  record.  Ask 
the  average  Protestant  where  the  Bible  comes 
from.  Perhaps  he  never  thought  of  that. 
Well,  it  was  the  Catholic  Church  that,  so  to 
speak,  made  the  Bible.     That  is,  she  gathered 


144  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

together  the  dififerent  parts,  sifted  the  genuine 
from  the  spurious,  and  then  by  her  authority 
declared  which  was  the  inspired  Scripture. 

There  was  no  Bible  in  Christ's  time,  none 
in  the  apostles'  time.  It  came  later  when  the 
Church,  seeing  that  the  inspired  letters  of  the 
apostles  to  the  various  churches,  and  the  gos- 
pels written  by  the  inspired  evangelists  were  be- 
ing tampered  with,  and  spurious  ones  foisted  on 
the  people,  examined  all  the  writings  claiming 
to  be  sacred  and  designated  those  as  inspired 
which  had  as  authors  the  apostles,  evangel- 
ists, and  prophets.  These  she  put  together 
in  one  collection  and  called  it  the  Bible.  That 
is  the  Bible. 

The  infallible  and  authoritative  Church  gave 
it  to  us.  The  infallible  and  authoritative 
Church  existed  before  the  Bible,  and  inde- 
pendent of  it,  and,  after  giving  it  to  us,  safe- 
guarded it  down  through  all  the  ages. 

Protestantism,  with  its  platform  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  Bible  only,  has  now  virtually  discarded 
the  Bible  as  the  inspired  word  of  God.     On 


THE  BIBLE  145 

the  other  hand,  the  CathoHc  Church,  which 
was  abused  for  its  lack  of  appreciation  of  the 
Bible,  is  now  its  sole  upholder  and  protector 
as  an  inspired  record.  Protestants  call  it  the 
word  of  God,  but  their  leading  teachers  treat 
it  as  the  word  of  a  human  moralist,  accepting 
some  parts,  discarding  others.  If  they  con- 
sidered it  inspired,  they  would  not  dare  tamper 
with  it  as  they  do. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  consistent.  It  gave 
it  to  us  as  the  inspired  word  of  God,  and  it 
holds  it  as  such.  It  realizes  that  on  account 
of  its  sacredness  and  sublimity  it  needs  official 
explanation  when  there  is  question  as  to  its 
meaning. 

We  do  not  trust  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  an  indi- 
vidual, no  matter  how  learned  he  may  be.  If 
a  question  arises  as  to  its  meaning,  there  is 
but  one  authoritative  declaration,  and  that  is 
by  the  Supreme  Court.  The  Bible  may  be 
considered  the  Constitution  of  the  world-wide 
Catholic  Church.     Why  should  an  individual 


146  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

take  liberties  with  it,  which  he  cannot  take 
with  a  human  document?  The  Church  alone, 
the  Voice  of  God,  may,  in  case  of  doubt,  de- 
clare truly  the  meaning  of  the  Bible.  Why 
should  not  she  who,  in  collecting  the  material 
of  the  Bible,  discriminated  between  the  true 
and  the  false,  not  also  decide  what  is  the  true 
or  false  meaning  of  a  particular  passage? 

Protestants  began  by  individual  interpre- 
tation, and  they  are  now  concluding  by  whole- 
sale rejection.  The  Reformers  rejected  whole 
chapters  if  it  suited  their  purpose.  To-day 
their  descendants  reject  doctrine  after  doctrine 
according  to  their  fancy.  Suppose  we  did 
that  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States!  There  would  very  soon  be  no  law  or 
order.  And  that  is  precisely  the  condition 
of  Protestantism  to-day. 

Outside  the  Catholic  Church  all  is  chaos. 
Can  we  imagine  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
being  such  an  assemblage  of  contradictions? 
No  wonder  that  intelligent  Protestants  lament 
their  sad  state,  and    that  so  many  reject  all 


THE  BIBLE  147 

religion  in  turning  away  from  their  own  dis- 
rupted church. 

It  is  for  such  souls  that  these  pages  are 
written,  in  hopes  that,  seeing  the  wonderful 
unity  and  consistency  and  perpetuity  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  they  may  recognize  in  her 
the  Pillar  and  Ground  of  Truth,  the  bride  of 
Christ,  the  religion  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HELL 

ELL  is  a  subject  not  supposed  to 
be  even  mentioned  nowadays.  It 
is  considered  old-fashioned,  crude, 
brutal.  Enlightened  people  shrink  from  at- 
tributing such  a  monstrous  doctrine  to  the 
good  God.  Refined  people  shudder  at  the 
thought  of  it. 

Well,  Jesus  Christ  was  refined,  enlightened, 
merciful,  broad-minded,  and  He  taught  us 
there  is  a  hell.  Moreover,  He  died  on  the  cross 
to  keep  us  out  of  it.  Against  the  word  and 
death  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  there 
is  no  argument.  If  there  is  no  hell,  why  was 
Christ  crucified.'^  Why  did  Christ  say:  "What 
doth  it  profit  a  man  to  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  soul?  "  If  there  is  no  hell,  what  do  these 
words  of  Christ  mean:  "Depart,  ye  cursed,  into 

148 


HELL  149 

everlasting  fire?"  Why  did  Jesus  say:  "If  thy 
eye  scandalize  thee,  pluck  it  out,  for  it  is  better 
to  go  with  one  eye  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
than  having  both  eyes  to  be  cast  into  hell?" 

If  there  is  no  hell,  what  is  the  meaning  of  the 
mission  of  Jesus  Christ?  If  there  is  no  hell, 
what  fools  the  early  Christians  were  to  submit 
to  imprisonment,  exile,  and  death!  It  is  es- 
timated that  there  are  nine  millions  of  martyrs. 
Were  they  all  deluded?  If  so,  it  was  for  be- 
lieving Jesus  Christ;  not  their  own  interpre- 
tation of  His  words,  but  the  official  declaration 
of  His  divinely  constituted  tribunal. 

Deny  hell,  deny  Jesus  Christ.  You  cannot 
accept  one  without  the  other.  We  believe  in 
hell  only  because  Jesus  declares  its  existence. 

Catholics  do  not  relish  hell  any  more  than 
other  people.  They  are  not  interested  in  up- 
holding such  a  dreadful  doctrine.  But  they 
do  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God,  and  if  He 
tells  them  that  there  is  a  hell,  they  believe  it. 
They  do  not  like  hell,  but  that  does  not  make 
them  deny  it.     They  do  not  like  pestilence  or 


150  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

war  or  famine,  yet  they  do  not  deny  these 
things.  CathoHcs  are  opposed  to  hell  in  one 
way,  —  they  do  all  in  their  power  to  keep  out 
of  it.  And  that  is  what  God  wants.  He 
made  hell  so  terrible  to  keep  us  from  offending 
Him. 

Fear  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom.  If  a  child 
does  not  have  reverence  for  his  father,  he 
cannot  have  love  for  him.  And  we,  unless 
we  reverence  the  authority  of  God,  cannot 
have  true  love  for  Him.  Hell  helps  us  to 
realize  the  dreadfulness  of  despising  the  author- 
ity of  God.  Even  as  it  is,  with  the  fear  of 
hell  to  deter  us  from  sin,  how  many  turn 
their  backs  on  God  and  live  to  suit  themselves. 

If  with  the  fear  of  hell  to  keep  us  from  evil 
the  world  is  nevertheless  so  wicked,  what 
would  it  be  without  this  restraint.^ 

But,  regardless  of  what  we  may  reason  about 
it,  the  fundamental  thing  is  this:  Jesus  Christ 
solemnly  and  repeatedly  proclaimed  that  there 
is  a  hell.  He  was  crucified  to  redeem  us  from 
hell.  He  established  His  Church  to  enable  us 


HELL  151 

to  live  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  hell,  and  He 
warns  us  to  lose  all,  even  life  itself,  rather  than 
incur  the  punishment  of  hell. 

Moreover,  God  sends  no  one  to  hell.  WTio- 
ever  goes  there  goes  in  spite  of  God's  best 
eflForts  to  keep  him  out  of  it.  God  warns,  chas- 
tises, threatens.  He  even  makes  hell  so  terrible, 
to  keep  us  out  of  it.  If  any  man  goes  to  hell, 
he  goes  because  he  has  ignored  God  and  His 
warnings.  "What  is  there  that  I  ought  to  do 
more  to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done  to 
it?" 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   SACRAMENTS 

S  stated  in  regard  to  the  Redemp- 
tion, God  could  have  employed 
various  means  to  accomplish  it. 
He  chose  to  do  it  by  the  Incarnation  and 
death  of  His  own  divine  Son.  So,  in  imparting 
to  mankind  the  fruits  of  the  Redemption,  God 
could  have  done  it  in  many  ways.  But  it  is 
not  for  us  to  inquire  why  He  did  not  do  it 
this  way  or  that,  but  to  bow  down  and  rev- 
erently accept  His  graces  through  the  channels 
He  has  established. 

God  could  have  made  angels  the  ministers 
of  His  grace,  but  He  has  chosen  instead  men, 
weak,  sinful  men.  He  uses  men  as  His  minis- 
ters and  the  sacraments  as  the  means  of  con- 
veying His  grace  to  us.     The  sacraments  are 

152 


THE  SACRAMENTS  153 

certain  definite  rites  instituted  by  Christ  for 
the  conferring  of  grace. 

A  sacrament  is  an  outward  sign  instituted 
by  Jesus  Christ  to  give  grace  to  the  soul. 
Man  is  made  up  of  an  exterior  or  visible  body 
and  an  interior  or  invisible  soul.  The  outward 
sign  of  a  sacrament  corresponds  to  the  material 
part  of  man,  the  interior  grace  imparted  par- 
takes of  the  nature  of  the  soul. 

It  may  be  asked  why  God  employs  such 
instrumentalities  for  the  conferring  of  His 
grace.  The  main  reason  is  His  own  will.  He 
knows  man  and  has  chosen  the  means  He  sees 
fit.  But  nevertheless  we  may  see  in  the  for- 
mality of  the  sacraments  very  good  reasons 
why  they  are  employed. 

As  regards  the  outward  sign,  it  indicates  in 
a  fitting  way  the  character  of  what  is  imparted 
to  the  soul.  We  know  that  smoke  is  a  sign 
of  fire,  even  though  we  do  not  see  the  flames; 
a  sad  face  is  a  sign  of  a  heavy  heart;  black 
clothes  denote  mourning;  etc.,  etc.  So  in  the 
sacraments,    water    in    baptism    denotes    the 


\ 


154  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

washing  away  of  sin;  the  holy  oil  in  extreme 
unction  indicates  the  comfort  and  strength 
God's  grace  gives  to  the  parting  soul. 

It  is  highly  proper  that  the  Church  of  Christ, 
which  is  an  outward  and  visible  institution, 
should  dispense  God's  graces  by  outward  and 
visible  means.  Moreover,  unless  there  were 
an  exterior  form  accompanying  the  grace  of 
the  different  sacraments,  we  should  never 
know  for  certain  that  we  had  received  that 
particular  grace.  As  it  is,  we  have  God's  word 
for  it  that  if  we  do  our  part.  His  grace  is 
imparted  to  us  infallibly  with  the  administra- 
tion of  the  particular  sacrament  we  receive. 
We  know  that  we  receive  the  special  grace  of 
that  particular  sacrament  when  it  is  admin- 
istered. 

We  are  sinners,  and  most  of  our  sins  are 
committed  by  the  instrumentality  of  our 
senses.  Through  these  same  senses  we  re- 
ceive the  assurance  of  God's  forgiveness  once 
we  have  repented  and  resolved  to  live  rightly. 

The  Church  was  established  for  men,  not 


THE  SACRAMENTS  155 

angels.  All  her  ceremonies  are  calculated  to 
reach  man  as  he  is,  a  creation  of  body  as  well 
as  soul.  It  thus  elevates  the  whole  man,  and 
even  here  below  begins  that  process  by  which 
eventually  we  become  the  children  of  God. 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be 
thy  name:   thy  kingdom  come! 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   EUCHARIST 

^HE  Eucharist  is  a  mystery  as  well 
as  a  sacrament.  Like  the  Trinity 
and  the  Incarnation,  it  is  something 
that  surpasses  human  understanding.  We  be- 
lieve it,  not  because  we  comprehend  it,  but 
simply  on  God's  word,  just  as  we  believe  in 
the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation.  Our  re- 
ligion is  called  our  holy  Faith,  because  it  is 
based  on  faith  in  God's  statements.  In  the 
Eucharist,  we  have  to  trust  absolutely  to  God's 
word.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Eucharist 
itself  to  help  our  understanding  of  it,  rather 
everything  to  make  it  harder  of  comprehension. 
Jesus  understood  all  this,  and  for  that  reason 
prepared  His  followers  for  absolute  trust  in  Him. 
The  Eucharist  is  the  sacrament  of  the  body 
and   blood   of   Christ.     It   was   instituted   by 

156 


THE  EUCHARIST  157 

Jesus  at  the  Last  Supper,  when  He  changed 
the  substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  into  His 
body  and  blood,  and  gave  Himself  to  the 
apostles  as  their  first  Holy  Communion. 

How  it  is  that  without  any  external  change 
there  is  a  change  of  the  real  interior  substance 
of  the  bread  into  the  body  of  Christ  we  do  not 
know.  Nor  does  God  want  us  to  know.  If 
He  did,  He  would  have  told  us.  It  is  as  if, 
before  giving  us  the  greatest  thing  in  His 
possession,  Himself,  He  demanded  this  act  of 
perfect  faith  in  Himself.  Perfect  faith  it 
surely  is,  for  there  is  nothing  but  His  word 
for  it.  However,  Christ  prepared  His  followers 
for  this  great  confidence  in  Him,  as  we  shall 
see. 

His  first  miracle  was  to  change  water  into 
wine  by  a  mere  expression  of  His  will.  After- 
wards He  fed  a  great  multitude  of  thousands 
of  people  with  a  few  loaves.  Taking  bread 
into  His  hands.  He  blessed  it,  causing  it  to 
increase  a  thousand-fold  before  the  very  eyes 
of  the  people.     After  this  miracle,  they  wished 


158  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

to  make  Him  their  king.  Taking  occasion 
of  their  great  confidence  in  Him,  He  told  them 
that  He  was  going  to  give  them  bread  of  another 
kind,  bread  from  heaven.  When  they  asked 
for  that  bread,  He  said:  "The  bread  that 
I  will  give  is  my  flesh,  for  the  life  of  the 
world." 

When  the  people  heard  this  statement  they 
were  amazed,  and  said  one  to  another:  "How 
can  He  give  us  His  flesh  to  eat?"  They 
understood  Jesus  literally.  Had  they  mis- 
understood Him.f^  No,  for  if  they  had.  He 
would  have  rightly  informed  them.  But  when 
He  saw  their  astonishment,  He  repeated  and 
emphasized  what  He  had  said:  "Amen,  amen, 
I  say  unto  you,  except  you  eat  the  flesh  of  the 
Son  of  Man  and  drink  of  His  blood,  you  shall 
not  have  life  in  you.  For  my  flesh  is  meat 
indeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed." 

He  held  to  His  statement,  although  it  caused 
many  to  turn  away  from  Him.  Even  some  of 
His  disciples  left  Him.  This  made  Jesus 
turn  towards  the  apostles  and  say:    "Will  you 


THE  EUCHARIST  151 

too  leave  me?"  Peter  answered:  "Lord,  if 
we  leave  Thee,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life!" 

A  few  days  after  Christ  had  raised  Lazarus 
from  the  dead,  on  the  day  before  His  cruci- 
fixion, while  seated  with  His  apostles  at  the 
Last  Supper,  Jesus  fulfilled  His  promise  of 
giving  to  them  His  body  and  blood.  Taking 
bread  into  His  hands,  He  blessed  it,  saying: 
"Take  ye  and  eat,  this  is  my  body."  These 
words  were  His  last  will  and  testament.  Con- 
tinuing, He  said:  "Do  this  for  a  commemora- 
tion of  me." 

Here  was  the  act  of  consecration,  the  chang- 
ing of  the  bread  into  His  body,  and  also  the 
commission  to  the  apostles  to  do  the  same,  in 
memory  of  Him.  That  this  was  the  way  in 
which  the  apostles  understood  it  is  clear  from 
their  practice.  St.  Paul,  speaking  of  the 
Eucharist,  says:  "The  bread  which  we  break 
is  it  not  the  partaking  of  the  body  of  the 
Lord?"  Now,  if  anyone  knew  the  meaning 
of  the  words  of  our  Lord,  it  was  the  apostles. 


160       .      GOD  AND  MYSELF 

It  is  not  likely  that  Christ  allowed  them  to 
be  deceived. 

For  fear  there  may  be  any  question  at  all 
as  to  how  they  regarded  the  Eucharist,  the 
Apostle  furthermore  adds:  "He  that  eateth 
and  drinketh  unworthily  eateth  and  drinketh 
judgment  to  himself,  not  discerning  the  body 
of  the  Lord."  If  words  have  any  meaning 
at  all,  these  of  Christ  and  the  Apostle  signify 
that  the  Eucharist  is  the  body  and  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Nothing  can  explain  this  wonderful  mys- 
tery. However,  it  is  possible  to  advert  to 
some  things  around  us  which  may  make  our 
minds  more  ready  to  assent  to  it.  Suppose 
someone  told  you  that  a  woman  could  give 
her  flesh  and  blood  as  food  to  another.  At  first 
you  would  say  no.  But  observe.  A  mother 
gives  her  flesh  and  blood  to  her  nursing  child. 
How.'^  Her  substance  in  some  mysterious  way 
is  changed  into  milk.  How,  not  even  she  knows, 
nor  all  the  learned  men  of  the  world.  This 
milk,  her  flesh  and  blood,  she  gives  to  her  child. 


THE  EUCHARIST  161 

What  a  mother  does  indirectly  through  the 
medium  of  milk,  God  does  by  the  Eucharist. 
It  is  for  us  to  adore  God  for  His  kindly  dis- 
pensations in  our  regard  and  to  thank  Him. 
If  we  do  this  not  merely  by  words  but  by 
a  good  life,  we  shall  understand  in  heaven 
not  only  the  Eucharist,  but  all  other  things. 
"Eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard  nor  hath 
it  entered  into  the  mind  of  man  to  conceive 
the  things  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Him." 

There  is  no  means  in  this  world  so  well 
adapted  to  enable  us  to  love  God  as  the  Eu- 
charist. By  frequently  receiving  our  Lord, 
we  become  more  and  more  like  unto  Him,  and 
even  in  this  life  we  become,  in  a  way,  incor- 
porated into  the  divine  family.  "To  as  many 
as  receive  Him,  He  gives  the  power  to  become 
the  children  of  God." 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   MASS 


f"  II  ^HE  mass  is  the  most  sacred  cere- 
mony of  the  Cathohc  rehgion.  It 
is  by  the  mass  that  the  Blessed 
Eucharist  and  the  crucifixion  are  perpetuated. 
Everything  in  the  Church  centres  about  the 
adorable  sacrifice  of  the  mass.  It  is  for  the 
celebration  of  the  mass  that  the  altar  is  erected. 
It  is  as  a  habitation  for  the  sacramental  Christ 
that  our  churches  are  built,  where  He  dwells 
to  receive  the  homage  of  His  subjects  and  to 
bestow  His  blessing  and  Himself.  It  is  for 
the  celebration  of  the  mass  that  our  priests 
are  consecrated.  It  is  for  a  worthy  reception  of 
Christ's  body  and  blood  effected  by  the  mass  that 
the  sacrament  of  Penance  prepares  the  faithful. 
The  mass  is  the  great  sacrifice  of  the  new 
law,  offered  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  its 

162 


THE  MASS  163 

going  down.  It  is  the  clean  oblation  pre- 
figured by  the  offering  of  Melchisedeeh.  The 
mass  enables  mankind  to  offer  to  God  daily 
and  repeatedly  what  is  most  acceptable  to 
Him.  For  it  is  the  offering  to  the  eternal 
Father  of  the  Only  Begotten  Son.  That  is 
why  the  mass  is  so  sacred. 

Sometimes  you  hear  people  say  that  they 
do  not  see  the  need  of  going  to  mass.  But 
you  never  hear  a  good  Catholic  say  that,  for 
he  knows  that  he  is  assisting  at  a  great  though 
unbloody  sacrifice. 

God  commands  us  to  worship  Him,  to  keep 
holy  the  Sabbath  day.  The  Church  specifies 
how  we  shall  do  so.  The  mass  is  the  great 
public  act  of  worship.  To  be  present  with 
the  right  intention  and  conduct  is  all  that  is 
necessary.  Piety  will  suggest  further  devotion. 
But  your  mere  presence  constitutes  the  act  of 
worship  for  you.  You  may  not  be  able  to 
hear  the  words  of  the  mass,  you  may  not  under- 
stand them,  but  God  to  whom  they  are  ad- 
dressed   hears    and    understands.     The    mass 


164  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

is  an  act  of  sacrifice  and  all  join  in  it  who  are 
present. 

At  the  great  inauguration  ceremony  at  Wash- 
ington, how  many  of  those  present  hear  the 
words  of  the  President  or  understand  the 
details  of  the  function,  yet  all  honor  the  Presi- 
dent by  their  mere  presence.  So  with  the 
mass.  Catholics  go  to  mass  to  adore  and  wor- 
ship God  in  the  way  He  prescribes.  Their 
mere  presence  is  an  act  of  religion.  The 
priest  may  be  cultured  or  vulgar,  the  church 
clean  or  dirty,  the  sermon  good  or  bad,  the 
music  devotional  or  detestable,  —  it  matters 
not.  The  offering  is  the  main  thing,  and  the 
offering  is  of  infinite  value,  —  it  is  none  other 
than  Christ  Himself. 

The  mass  is  the  Last  Supper  over  again, 
with  the  additional  significance  of  Calvary. 
God  sees  everyone  who  is  there.  He  knows 
the  effort  and  sacrifice  which  at  times  it  costs 
to  attend.  He  knows  that  the  worshippers  are 
there  to  honor  Him. 

God  does  not  need  us   or   our   gifts.     The 


THE  MASS  165 

world  is  His  and  the  fulness  thereof.  But 
what  He  does  want  is  our  heart.  We  give 
Him  that  when  we  strive  to  please  Him,  when 
we  put  ourselves  out  for  His  sake,  when  we 
suffer  for  Him  who  suffered  so  much  for  us. 

The  church  is  God's  throne-room,  and  the 
altar  His  very  throne.  As  a  monarch  receives 
in  state  at  specified  times,  so  does  the  Monarch 
of  the  world  summon  His  subjects  at  inter- 
vals to  renew  their  allegiance  and  to  honor 
Him.  By  the  voice  of  His  herald,  the  Church, 
He  calls  His  subjects  to  His  throne-room  every 
Sunday.  There  they  acknowledge  His  Lord- 
ship and  offer  Him  their  petitions.  There 
they  behold  over  again  the  sacrifice  of  Calvary 
and  see  the  price  that  was  paid  for  their 
redemption. 

When  they  return  to  their  homes,  it  is  as 
men  renewed.  They  have  been  in  touch  with 
something  above  this  world.  They  have  been 
with  Christ.  They  go  forth  into  the  world 
again,  but  they  live  for  something  more  than 
the  world. 


CHAPTER  XII 

CONFESSION 

^NE  of  the  things  that  seem  to 
repel  non-Cathohcs  is  confession. 
But  once  they  become  CathoHcs 
and  have  experienced  its  marvellous  help  and 
comfort,  they  become  its  strongest  advocates. 
It  is  a  common  remark  by  those  outside  the 
Church  that  there  is  no  need  of  confessing  sins 
to  a  priest;  it  is  better  to  go  straight  to  God 
Himself. 

Very  well,  but  suppose  you  wished  to  see 
the  President  of  the  United  States  and  he 
referred  you  to  his  secretary!  It  is  not  a 
question  of  what  might  be  or  should  be,  but 
of  what  is.  Has  Christ  referred  us  to  the 
priest  in  this  matter  of  confession.'^  If  so, 
then  the  matter  is  closed.  There  is  no  room 
for  discussion. 

166 


CONFESSION  167 

In  point  of  fact,  God  has  established  the 
sacrament  of  Penance,  and  it  is  the  ordinary 
way  He  has  appointed  for  the  forgiveness  of 
sin.  I  say  the  ordinary  way,  for  nothing  can 
stand  between  God  and  the  sinner  who  turns 
to  Him  with  a  contrite  heart.  "Where  con- 
fession is  not  possible,  God  does  not  require  it. 
An  act  of  perfect  contrition  for  sin,  with  the 
intention  of  complying  with  the  ordinary  re- 
quirements should  the  opportunity  offer,  will 
restore  the  worst  offender  to  God's  friendship. 

Why  does  God  require  us  to  obtain  His 
forgiveness  through  confession  to  a  priest? 
We  do  not  know.  It  is  His  ordination.  He 
is  the  one  offended  by  sin,  and  it  is  His  right 
to  say  how  He  will  pardon.  If  you  offend 
another,  you  have  no  right  to  tell  him  in  what 
way  he  will  pardon  you.  That  is  his  affair. 
If  an  offence  against  one  who  is  but  a  man 
like  yourself  does  not  permit  of  your  dictat- 
ing the  manner  of  reconciliation,  how  much 
less  does  your  view  count  when  you  have  of- 
fended the  majesty  of  God? 


168  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

A  sinner  should  be  glad  to  obtain  God's 
forgiveness  on  any  terms.  God  has  stated  His 
terms.  He  might  with  justice  punish  sin  on 
the  spot;  He  might  impose  on  us  as  a  condition 
of  forgiveness,  a  journey  to  a  distant  place; 
He  might  forgive  sin  only  after  years  of  rep- 
aration; He  might  require  a  year  or  several 
years  of  our  life  for  each  sin.  But  instead  He 
has  for  His  own  wise  reasons  established  the 
sacrament  of  Penance  for  the  forgiveness  of 
sin. 

Here  are  the  very  words  of  Christ:  "Re- 
ceive ye  the  Holy  Ghost;  whose  sins  you  shall 
forgive  they  are  forgiven;  whose  sins  you  shall 
retain  they  are  retained."  These  words  were 
addressed  to  the  apostles.  By  them  they  are 
clothed  with  power  from  God  Himself  to  for- 
give or  retain  sin. 

We  see  something  similar  in  the  state.  The 
government  makes  laws.  If  one  breaks  the 
law,  one  offends  against  the  state.  The  state 
itself  does  not  punish  or  release  a  prisoner, 
but  clothes  her  judges  with  power  to  hear  and 


CONFESSION  169 

decide.  Even  after  a  prisoner  is  convicted, 
the  state  sometimes  forgives  him;  but  how? 
Not  directly,  but  indirectly  through  the  gov- 
ernor, to  whom  the  state  has  given  the  pardon- 
ing power. 

If  the  state  confers  on  an  individual  the 
pardoning  power,  why  should  not  God  forgive 
through  another  if  He  sees  fit.'^  If  confession 
was  not  established  by  God  Himself,  what 
man  would  be  bold  enough  to  introduce  it 
among  men.?  If  it  is  hard  to  accept  it  now 
after  twenty  centuries  of  established  use,  how 
much  harder  was  it  in  the  beginning?  Unless 
God  Himself  was  its  author,  it  never  could 
have  got  a  foothold  in  the  world.  But  once 
realizing  that  it  is  God's  way,  we  soon  discover 
that  after  all  it  is  the  best  way. 

How  many  millions  of  souls  have  received 
helpful  advice  in  confession!  How  many  have 
been  turned  aside  from  the  path  of  evil  by  the 
warning  they  received  in  confession!  How 
many  struggling  souls  have  been  aided  to 
victory  by  the  prudent  and  firm  guidance  of 


170  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

the  priest  who  could  be  of  no  help  unless  he 
had  known  their  condition  in  confession! 
How  many  priests  have  been  approached  by 
non-Catholics  for  advice  and  comfort  because 
it  was  known  that  they  could  open  their  hearts 
to  a  priest  in  full  confidence,  as  to  God  Himself. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  legions  of  souls  have  fought 
the  good  fight  and  conquered  by  means  of  the 
sacrament  of  Penance. 

God's  way  is  the  best  way  always. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MARRIAGE 

''^^HE  family  is  the  most  important 
factor  of    the  state.       If    the  family 

•*^  dies  out,  so  does  the  state.  Rome 
is  an  example.  There  are  other  instances 
nearer  home.  New  England  furnishes  many. 
The  old  stock  is  fast  disappearing  instead  of 
increasing.  That  is  nature's  judgment  on 
man's  violation  of  her  laws.  Any  attempt 
at  interfering  with  God's  rule  of  the  world  is 
fatal.  Now  God  in  His  providence  ordained 
that  the  continuation  of  the  world  should  be 
accomplished  by  the  family.  Any  increase 
of  the  human  race  outside  the  family  produces 
disorder.  Marriage  is  the  basis  of  the  family; 
hence  its  importance. 

Human  nature  is  human  nature.  You  have 
to  take  it  as  it  is.     It  is  very  fickle.     The 

171 


172  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

family  is  a  most  serious  proposition.  It  has 
duties  and  responsibilities.  Men  and  women 
need  help  to  enable  them  to  be  constant  and 
true  as  man  and  wife.  If  God  blesses  their 
union  with  children,  there  is  the  added  duty 
and  charge  of  parents.  To  bring  up  children 
in  the  fear  and  love  of  God  calls  for  faith, 
patience,  tact,  and  sacrifice.  God  understands 
all  this  much  better  than  we  do. 

Hence  He  instituted  the  sacrament  of  matri- 
mony to  give  stability  to  the  marriage  con- 
tract and  to  give  parents  the  aids  to  discharge 
their  duties  in  the  Christian  spirit.  Therefore 
is  it  that  He  declares  that  He  Himself  is  the 
one  who  performs  the  marriage  ceremony. 
"What  God  hath  joined  together,  let  no  man 
put  asunder."  The  priest  who  oflSciates  at  the 
marriage  is  only  God's  agent. 

It  is  God  Himself  who  joins  the  man  and 
woman  together  and  makes  of  the  two  but 
one,  —  one  inseparable  union. 

Genesis  tells  us  that  "God  created  man  to 
His  own  image:  to  the  image  of  God  He  created 


MARRIAGE  173 

him."  Afterwards  He  said:  "It  is  not  good 
for  man  to  be  alone,  let  us  make  him  a  help- 
mate like  unto  himself."  God  Himself  pre- 
sented Eve  to  Adam,  and  blessing  their  union, 
said:  "Increase  and  multiply  and  fill  the 
earth."  God  thus  established  the  marriage 
state  and  performed  Himself  the  first  marriage. 

Scripture  adds:  "Wherefore  shall  a  man 
leave  father  and  mother  and  shall  cleave  to  his 
wife,  and  they  shall  be  two  in  one  flesh." 
Mark  that  it  says  two,  not  three,  four,  or 
more.  Human  passion  often  mars  God's 
arrangements,  but  passion  violates  all  laws. 
It  is  in  order  to  check  and  govern  passion  that 
Christ  made  marriage  a  sacrament,  a  holy 
thing,  that,  being  sacred,  it  would  be  the  more 
respected.  St.  Paul,  referring  to  matrimony, 
says:  "This  is  a  great  sacrament  but  I  speak 
in  Christ  and  in  the  Church."  The  Apostle 
calls  it  a  great  sacrament.  What  are  we  to 
think  of  those  to-day  who  regard  it  as  a  mere 
business  transaction! 

There  is  but  one  Church  in  the  world  to-day 


174  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

that  regards  marriage  as  did  Christ  and  the 
apostles.  If  there  were  no  other  argument 
for  the  divinity  of  the  CathoHc  Church,  that 
would  suffice.  For  marriage,  of  all  things  in 
the  world,  offers  the  greatest  field  for  human 
wilfulness. 

Man's  heart  is  so  changeable  in  its  affec- 
tions that  it  is  constantly  seeking  a  device  to 
remove  the  barriers  of  restraint.  All  other  re- 
hgions  in  the  world  have  made  concessions 
to  this  tendency  except  the  Cathohc  Church. 
Truth  is  always  the  same;  it  changes  not  to 
suit  the  times  or  the  passions.  The  Catholic 
Church  could  have  held  all  England  in  its 
fold  if  it  were  willing  to  make  a  concession  to 
Henry  VIII  on  marriage.  Can  we  imagine 
Christ  making  compromise  with  sin?  Neither 
could  His  representative. 

Marriage  has  as  great  difficulties  for  Catho- 
lics as  it  has  for  Protestants  or  infidels,  but 
they  meet  it  as  God  directs,  and  in  the  end 
they  are  gainers  by  it.  A  man  and  wife  may 
have  their  differences,  but  if  they  know  that 


MARRIAGE  175 

their  union  is  indissoluble,  they  patch  them 
up.  But  if  they  feel  that  they  can  make  a 
new  alliance,  the  breach  widens  and  soon  a 
chasm  yawns  between  them.  And  what  be- 
comes of  the  children! 

Again,  if  man  and  wife  fear  a  dissolution 
of  the  marriage,  they  may  take  precautions 
against  having  children.  Suppose  their  fathers 
and  mothers  did  that,  where  would  they  and 
their  children  be  now!  If  the  thing  is  lawful, 
one  has  as  much  right  to  do  it  as  another,  and 
soon  where  would  the  world  be!  So  we  can 
readily  see  that  there  is  need  of  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  world  to  keep  it  from  the 
vagaries  and  ruin  of  passion. 

There  is  but  one  influence  on  earth  to-day 
that  safeguards  marriage,  and  that  is  the  sac- 
rament of  matrimony  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  sex  instinct  is  the  strongest  human  passion. 
Among  every  race  it  is  the  hardest  thing  to 
control  and  is  the  source  of  untold  evils. 

The  Catholic  Church  alone,  as  the  voice 
of   God,  speaks   out   authoritatively   and   un- 


176  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

compromisingly  on  this  matter.  If  she  were 
not  divine,  she  could  not  have  the  courage 
to  stand  up  before  the  tide  of  sensuaHty  that 
has  swept  aside  every  other  barrier.  By  her 
lofty  ideals,  by  her  examples  of  virginity,  by 
her  sacraments,  and  by  her  perpetual  reminder 
of  the  judgments  of  God,  she  gives  man  a 
power  to  rise  superior  to  the  baseness  within 
him. 

Mankind  should  welcome  an  institution 
which  makes  the  family  secure,  brings  respect 
to  father  and  mother,  and  safeguards  the 
virtue  of  son  and  daughter. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PRAYER 

OME  people  think  that  prayer  is  only 
a  petition,  a  request  for  something. 
This  is  but  one  form  of  prayer  and 
perhaps  the  lowest.  The  "Our  Father,"  which 
is  an  ideal  prayer,  shows  us  that  prayer  is  an 
act  of  praise  as  well  as  of  petition.  It  begins 
by  an  act  of  praise:  "Our  Father,  who  art  in 
heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name."  Besides, 
prayer  is  also  an  act  of  thanksgiving  for  God's 
favors  and  also  an  act  of  reparation  for  our 
offences. 

Prayer  holds  a  very  important  place  in  the 
true  Church.  The  good  Catholic  begins  and 
ends  the  day  with  prayer.  In  the  hour  of 
temptation  he  seeks  strength  in  prayer.  When 
in  sorrow,  prayer  is  his  solace;  when  in  joy, 
it  is  his  thanksgiving. 

177 


178  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

The  great  official  prayer  of  the  Church  is 
the  mass.  This  prayer  every  Cathohc  joins  in 
as  a  matter  of  obligation  on  Sundays  and 
holj^days.  By  the  mass  there  is  offered  to 
God  praise,  thanksgiving,  reparation,  and 
petition.  It  is  an  act  of  worship  that  fulfils 
all  the  purposes  of  prayer.  If  a  man  does 
not  attend  mass  regularly,  he  virtually  ceases 
to  be  a  Catholic.  Of  course  he  is  a  Catholic 
in  name,  but  he  is  cutting  himself  off  from 
the  greatest  source  of  grace  which  his  reli- 
gion affords.  Moreover,  he  is,  as  it  were, 
turning  his  back  on  God,  for  he  refuses  to 
give  Him  the  service  He  commands. 

If  a  subject  refuses  to  appear  at  a  state  func- 
tion when  ordered  by  his  sovereign,  he  falls  into 
disfavor.  God  commands  us  under  pain  of 
sin  to  honor  Him  once  a  week  by  attendance 
at  mass.  Not  to  do  so  is  to  despise  His  au- 
thority and  to  incur  His  displeasure.  Of 
course  if  one  is  not  able  to  go  to  mass,  there  is 
no  obligation.  Any  serious  inconvenience,  one, 
say,  that  would  keep  a  person  from  business. 


PRAYER  179 

is  a  sufficient  reason  for  not  attending  mass. 
But  to  deliberately  stay  away  from  mass  on 
Sunday  simply  because  you  want  to  rest,  or 
read,  or  recreate,  is  to  ignore  the  ordinance  of 
God  and  is  an  act  of  disobedience  to  Him. 

A  man  who  calls  himself  a  Catholic  and 
neglects  mass  on  Sunday  is  like  a  soldier  who 
would  stay  at  home  when  ordered  to  the  ranks. 
We  know  what  would  happen  to  the  soldier. 
The  majesty  of  God  is  greater  than  that  of 
any  earthly  ruler,  and  He,  in  His  own  time 
and  way,  will  know  how  to  requite  those  who 
ignore  Him. 

Besides  this  great  and  obligatory  prayer  of 
the  mass,  there  are  the  morning  and  evening 
prayers.  A  prayer  is  the  uplifting  of  the  mind 
to  God  or  His  saints.  By  beginning  the  day 
with  a  reminder  of  God  above,  we  go  forth 
strengthened  for  the  trials  and  temptations 
inseparable  from  life.  In  the  same  way,  at 
the  close  of  the  day  before  retiring  for  the 
night,  we  again  raise  our  minds  to  heaven, 
our  true  home,  to  thank  God  for  His  goodness 


180  GOD  AND  MYSELF 

and  to  beg  pardon  for  our  transgressions  and 
shortcomings. 

In  this  way,  the  faithful  CathoHc  is  in  con- 
stant touch  with  the  supernatural.  He  reaHzes 
that  although  he  must  live  in  this  world,  he 
is  not  living  merely  for  it,  but  also  and  mainly 
for  that  blessed  life  beyond  where  there  is 
true  peace  and  joy.  This  thought  enables 
him  to  meet  the  burden  of  the  day  and  to 
discharge  his  duty  cheerfully.  For  he  knows 
that  the  reward  hereafter  depends  on  the 
fidelity  with  which  his  duty  is  performed  here. 
And  so  he  goes  ahead  serving  God  gladly, 
doing  his  duty  by  his  fellow-man,  and  striving 
in  all  things  to  make  himself  worthy  of  com- 
panionship with  the  children  of  God  in  heaven. 

This  life  is  only  the  first  step  of  our  existence. 
The  longest  life  seems  at  its  close  but  brief. 
"What  matters  it  if  the  short  path  which  leads 
to  our  Father's  home  be  steep  and  rugged  if 
only  it  leads  us  securely  to  Him !  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  path  of  this  life  leads  us  away 
from  God,  "AVhat  doth  it  profit  a  man  if  he 


PRAYER  181 

gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  soul?"  God 
established  His  Church  and  the  sacraments 
to  guide  and  help  us  in  the  way  that  leads  to 
Himself. 

"Thy  kingdom  come,  O  Lord,  Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven!  May  Thy 
will  be  done  by  me!  May  Thy  kingdom  come 
tome!" 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS 

WHICH    GO   DEEPER   INTO   THE    QUESTIONS 
HERE   TOUCHED   UPON 


The  Catholic  Encyclopedia 
The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,  Cardinal  Gibbons. 
Who  and  What  Is  Christ  ?  F.  Roh,  S.J. 
The  Existence  of  God,  R.  F.  Clarke,  S.J. 
Church  or  Bible,  Arnold  Damen,  S.J. 
Plain  Facts  for  Fair  Minds,  G.  M.  Searle, 

C.S.P. 
The  Question  Box,  B.  L.  Conway,  C.S.P. 
Catholic  Belief,  Di  Bruno. 
Evidences  of  Religion,  James  L.  Balmes. 
Handbook    of    the    Christian    Religion, 

Wilmers,  S.J. 
The  Old  Riddle  and  the  Newest  Answer, 

John  Gerard,  S.J. 

science 
The    Church    and    Science,    Sir    Bertram 
Windle,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A. 

HISTORY 

European  Civilization,  James  L.  Balmes. 
England,  John  Lingard. 

LOLLARDY      and      THE      REFORMATION,      JameS 

Gairdner. 
Per  Crucem  ad  Lucem,  T.  W.  Allies. 
The    Eve    of    the    Reformation,    Cardinal 

Gasquet. 
Henry  VIH  and  the  English  Monasteries, 

Cardinal  Gasquet. 
Breaking  with  the  Past,  Cardinal  Gasquet. 
The  Old  English  Bible,  Cardinal  Gasquet. 
The  Popes,  Hartmann  Grisar,  S.J. 
Luther,  Hartmann  Grisar,  S.J. 


^»      This  book  is  due  two  weeks  from  the  last  date  stamped    1 
below,  and  if  not  returned  at  or  before  that  time  a  fine  of    1 
five  cents  a  day  will  be  incurred. 

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